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From photograph I y G. C. Cox, 1896.

J ( 1 } I X II. ETCHER H URST.

I John Fletcher Hurst

A Biography

ALBERT OSBORN

This noble ensample to his shepe he yaf

That first he wrought and afterward he taught.

— Chaucer.

r\ »

(Hurs

New York: EATON & MAINS

Cincinnati : JENNINGS & GRAHAM

I905

THE NEW YORK1

PUBLIC LIBRARY

ASTOR, LENOX AND
TILDE.N FOUNDATIONS.
R 1906 L

jLYPJ-^5^1^

J
1

(Co £fti? Cttctbcr

AMANDA ALLEN OSBORN

Daughter of Samuel Seabury and Harriet Flower Allen

Born February 17,1 8T5"

at Oak Hill, Greene County

New York

A woman of sound sense, of genuine piety, of broad intelligence and
quick sympathy ; whose widowhood of 6fty years was passed in devoted
affection for her eight children, their children, and their children's children,
in serene trust in God, and in works of usefulness for a wide circle of friends;
and whose peaceful evening came on August Z7, 1903, at Eaton Rapids,
Michigan, where her precious dust awaits the resurrection of the just.

A WORD WITH THE READER

ONE bright morning, not far from New Year's Day, 1901.
while Bishop Hurst and the writer were engaged on
the usual batch of mail and miscellaneous chit-chat on
the work of the day, a restful pause in a long stretch of dicta-
tion gave opportunity for a short stroll from his high desk
around the sunlit study on the third floor of 1207 Connecticut
Avenue. Picking up one of a lot of letters, put aside as those
which could wait, he read it rapidly through. As he came to
a passage similar to many others received, and referring to the
story of his life as some time to be written, he turned half way
around and, with a quizzical look out of the corners of his
lustrous eyes and with a smile that softened the severity of
the task imposed and relieved the somber suggestion of the
possible close of his active career, but which sealed the commis-
sion for this biography, said, " I expect I must look to you
for that."

Reluctance to think the time near when it would be proper
to engage in a service so unwelcome gradually gave place to
the conviction that the preparatory gathering and sifting of
materials should be begun. This was already in progress when
in September, 1901, his sickness in London gave unmistakable
evidence of the approaching end. When to the personal re-
quest of the Bishop was added, in the spring of 1902, that of
his children of full age, the work was carried on with more
vigor and in such time as could be found in the intervals of
other necessary labors.

After the decease of the Bishop the collection and classifica-

vi A Word with the Reader

tion of material went on more rapidly. The first or rough
draft of the work, which contained the facts which the author
considered worthy a place in a permanent record, was completed
August 22, 1904; the second, a reduction of the first, on Sep-
tember 17; and the third, a revision while passing through the
press, on August 4. 1905.

Many courtesies from Miss Helen Hurst, Mr. John La
Monte Hurst, Dr. Carl Bailey Hurst, and Lieutenant Paul
Hurst have facilitated the work, especially by the loan of sev-
eral hundred letters written by their father and mother. The
kind and helpful responses to requests for particular incidents,
personalia, and estimates from scores of persons whose names
in some instances, because of duplicated material, do not ap-
pear in the book, are here most gratefully acknowledged.
Without these helps the task would have been deprived of
much of its sweetest pleasure.

"Bishop Hurst's works will live; but besides these," says
Dr. Charles S. Harrower, of New York, " we need fitting
words and events set in their order and bearing, to make a life
practical as well as admirable. One can scarcely recall such
industry and carefulness, such affection and perseverance, such
loyalty and deserved honors, without wishing very much to
see it all set where honest and high-minded young men can
see it and make a note of its lights and its clean ambitions."

' Brother, draw a true picture, a Rembrandtesque portrait
of Bishop Hurst," was the exhortation of Dr. G. E. Hiller,
of Louisville, " so that all the lines of shade and light that
belong to him will be there." A message from Dr. Samuel
Macauley Jackson, " Make it autobiographic," reinforced and
confirmed, midway in the labor, a purpose formed at the
outset. The one canon whose observance has been sought
throughout has been: Facts in proper setting tell their own
storv.

A Word with the Reader vii

The personal acquaintance between the subject and the
author began in the summer of 1874, when the genial president
of Drew showed the buildings and grounds to a young man
who had visited Madison in order to help himself to decide
where he should take his theological course, and dropped a few
words of counsel into his ear and of encouragement into his
heart. Through a three years' course we were brought not
only into the contact of the classroom, but into special relations
through some assistance, first in correspondence, and later in
sundry minor literary tasks. These latter were continued after
graduation, during fourteen years of pastorates in western
New York, and the former were renewed when in 1885 Provi-
dence brought the Bishop to Buffalo. With the increase of
labors incident to the launching of the American University
came the call of the chancellor to the writer, in 1 891, to render
such aid as would leave him a free hand to work for the new
and vast enterprise. From October, 1891, up to the moment
of his last breath these relations grew in frequency of contact,
in freedom of interc&urse, in mutual understanding, in large-
ness of confidence, in intensity of affection. Fidelity to his
expressed wish, admiration for his great gifts and high char-
acter, and love for his noble and affectionate spirit, have
wrestled with and overcome a sense of inadequacy to set in
proper array and worthy proportions the many aspects of a
personality so varied in its activities, so rich in its influence,
so inwrought with the interests of the church, the country,
and the race of the present age, and so full of promise of good
to unborn millions.

Washington, D. C, August 17, 1905.

CONTENTS

PAGE

The Line: Parentage and Ancestry. — Samuel Hurst. — Eliza-
beth Hurst. — Elijah Hurst. — Ann Catherine Colston I

The Place : The Eastern Shore and " Old Dorset." — Cam-
bridge 8

III
The Boy : Schools, Sports, and Work 12

IV
The Youth : At Cambridge Academy 19

Conversion 25

VI
The Young Man: The Collegian. — At Dickinson. — The Union

Philosophical Society 27

VII

A Sophomore's Diary 31

VIII

Close of His Sophomore Year 35

IX
The Collegian in Print. — A Moral Victory 37

X
An Interim at Home 41

XI
A Junior at Carlisle 43

XII
A Senior's Journal 45

XIII
Memory Cameos by Fellow Students 48

x Contents

XIV PAGE

The Teacher: At Greensboro, Maryland, and in the Catskills.

— " The Mystic Nine." — A " White Horse " Incident 52

The Lover: Catherine E. La Monte. — A Look toward Ger-
many.— Studying German at Carlisle 59

XVI
The Engagement Prolonged 64

XVII
The Student-Traveler: A Landlubber's Log. — In Brunswick. 69

XVIII
On Foot in the Harz Mountains 74

XIX
At Old Halle 77

XX
From Halle to Rome 83

XXI
From Rome to Glasgow and Homeward 89

XXII

The Itinerant: Two "Months of Busy Waiting. — Preaching

" Cnder the Elder." — Headquarters at Mechanicsburg. ... 94

XXIII
The Pastor : At Irvington 103

XXIV
At Passaic 1 1~

XXV

At Elizabethport, Fulton Street 128

XXVI
At Elizabeth. Water Street 133

XXVII
At West Xew Brighton. Trinity Church 143

XXVIII
The Teacher-Elect: The Call to Germany 14S

XXIX

The Author: His First Book (History of Rationalism) 152

Contents xi

XXX PAGE

The Brother Beloved: The Hearts of His Brethren 158

XXXI

The Teacher-Traveler: At Bremen and at Large 161

XXXII
At Frankfort-on-the-Main 170

XXXIII
Trips in Europe and the East. — Escape from a Bomb in
Rome 174

XXXIY
The Father Bereft : The Discipline of Sorrow 183

XXXV

The Translator : The German Exegete. — The Swiss His-
torian.— The Dutch Defender 188

XXXVI
The Professor : At Drew 193

XXXVII
The President : At Drew 198

XXXVIII
A Crisis, A Stand, A Victory 203

XXXIX

The President-Professor : Vacation Glimpses 212

The Delegate : His Address at Basel 220

XLI
The Author (continued) : Writing at Drew. — Life and
Literature in the Fatherland. — Outlines of Bible and
Church History. — Launching of the Biblical and Theologi-
cal Library with George R. Crooks 223

XLII
The Delegate (continued) : Two General Conferences. —

Elected Bishop 230

XLIII
The Bishop: At Des Moines. — 1880-1881. — Fifteen Confer-
ences in Five Central States 235

xii Contexts

XLIV PAGE

1882. Eleven Conferences. — East and West. — The Accident
Insurance Man -'41

XLV

[883-84. — Thirteen Conferences in Ten States, South, Cen-
tral, and East. — Impress on Iowa 246

XLVI

1884-85. — Abroad. — Twelve Conferences in Eight Countries
of Europe and Asia 251

XLVI1
\ Bold Stretch of Faith and Authority 263

XLVIII

1885-87. — At Buffalo. — Blanche's Death. — Fifteen Confer-
ences in Eight States, East, Central, and South 268

XI.IX
Official Tour of Mexico 274

L
1887-88. — Ten Conferences in Seven States, West, East, and
South. — Leaving Buffalo 279

LI
The Author (continued): Books of Two Quadrenniums 285

LII
The Bishop (continued) : 1888-90. — At Washington. — General
Conference in New York. — Fourteen Conferences in Eight
States, Northwest, East, Central, and South 290

LIII
The Husband in Grief: Death of Catherine E. Hurst 296

LIV
The Bishop (continued): 1890-91. — Two Trips Across the
Atlantic. — Three Conferences in Maryland and New York.
— The Second Ecumenical Conference 303

LV
[891-92. — At Washington. — Nine Conferences in Five States,
South, East, and West. — General Conference at Omaha. . . 308

Contents xiii

LVI PAGE
Founder of the American University: Hunting for a Site.
— Paying for the Site. — Indorsements by Friends of Edu-
cation 312

LVII
The Author (continued) : Culminating Literary Work. — At

Washington. — Fourteen Years of Productiveness 322

LVIII

The Bishop (continued) : 1892-96. — At Washington. — Twenty-
five Conferences in Fourteen States, West, Central, East,
and South. — Funeral of Secretary Gresham 336

LIX
1896-98. — At Washington. — Twenty-three Conferences in
Sixteen States, Central, East, South, and West. — Many
Addresses. — A Zoological Episode 34°

1898-1901. — At Washington. — President McKinley's Friend-
ship.— Nineteen Conferences in Eleven States, West,
North, South, and East. — His Second Marriage 347

LXI
The Bishop-Traveler: Eighth Trip to Europe. — Third Ecu-
menical Conference. — The Break 355

LXII
Aside Views and Touches: The Book-Lover and Antiquarian. 358

LXIII

The Hurst Collection. — Its Creation. — Its Contents. — Its
Dispersal 3^5

LXIV
The Pedestrian 375

LXV
The Guest 377

LXVI
The Preacher and Platform Speaker 381

LXVII
The Writer for the Press 384

xiv Contents

LXVIII PAGE

The Maker of Verse 389

LXIX
The Teacher and the Friend of Youth 393

I.XX
In Council, in the Chair, and in the Field 396

LXXI

The Scholar and the Christian Gentleman 399

LXXTT

"Sunset and Evening Star:" Waning Health. — Final Sick-
ness.— Sympathy of Colleagues. — The End 402

LXXIII

The Obsequies: Addresses by Bishops Fowler and McCabe. —

Memorial Services 408

LXXIV
Tributes: Collective 417

LXXV

From the Press 420

LXXVI

Personal Appreciations 425

Bibliography 432

Index 435

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Bishop Hurst (from Photo by G. C. Cox), 1S96 Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

Birthplace of John Fletcher Hurst, Salem, Maryland

(Clipping) 1

" Piney Neck " or " Bonnie Brook " (Photo) 12

" Weir Neck " (Photo) 41

East College, Dickinson 45

John F. and Catherine E. Hurst (Cut), 1S59 117

Class of 1858, Newark Conference, 1862 (Photo) 158

Bishop Hurst and General Clinton B. Fisk, 1870 174

President Hurst, Drew (Photo) 198

Facsimile— Four Lines 268

Bishop Hurst (Cut), 1891 308

Bishop Hurst (Photo), 1 896 322

Facsimile — Our Immortals at Fourscore 389

" Cedarcroft " (Photo) 402

JOHN FLETCHER HURST

A BIOGRAPHY

The Line

Parentage and Ancestry. — Samuel Hurst. — Elizabeth Hurst. — Elijah Hurst.

— Ann Catherine Colston

WOHN FLETCHER HURST, the second child and only
I son of Elijah and Ann Catherine (Colston) Hurst, was
born August 17, 1834, in the two-story house still stand-
ing near Salem, Dorchester County, Maryland, and died May
4, 1903, at "Cedarcroft," the villa of Mr. Aldis B. Browne, in
Bethesda, Montgomery County, of the same state.

His paternal grandfather was Samuel Hurst, who was born
in County Surrey, England, in 1764. and came to Maryland
when he was about sixteen years old. His name appears as
one of the fourteen "militia men" drafted from Dorchester
County, listed in a letter of Henry Hooper, of date June 28.
1781, to the governor, "to serve in the Continental Army until
the 10th day of December next." He served in the second
(Captain James Gray's) company, Third Maryland Regi-
ment, as a private, from June to December, 1781 ; also in the
Maryland Line, First Regiment, as a member of the sixth
company until his honorable discharge at Fredericktown, No-
vember 29, 1783. This military service was rendered when he
was in his seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth years. He

John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

was <ni the fighting line in the vicinity of Charleston, South
Carolina, in several unimportant engagements, took part in the

pre and battle of Yorktown. and witnessed the surrender of
Lord Cornwallis. In 1787 there was awarded to him as a sol-
dier a piece of land, No. 1.053 of 4,165 lots of fifty acres each,
on reserved ground lying west of Fort Cumberland, then in
Washington (now Garrett) County, Maryland, about one
and a half miles from Deer Park. This property, lying near
the summit of the Alleghanies, he seems never to have valued
highly enough either to occupy, sell, or pay the taxes thereon,
and the title thereto, as it appears, subsequently passed to
other hands.

A local tradition of trustworthy character is to the effect
that, when Samuel Hurst came home on one of his furloughs
as a Revolutionary soldier, his wardrobe was very much de-
pleted. His friends and neighbors clubbed together and bought
him a new suit of clothes, hat, shoes, and other adjuncts of
outward respectability. So riddled by the fortunes of war was
his old coat, and so begrimed with dust were his shirt and
trousers, that, seeing the delegation approach with the gifts,
he sought refuge in the water, and, having slowly receded
until only his head appeared above the surface of Cavithey
Willis's Creek, he shouted his gratitude and requested that the
donation be placed on the banks to await a more favorable
1 ipportunity for minute inspection. He died at the age of
fifty-eight, October 26. 1822. He was a Methodist several
years before his death. The dust of this honored soldier sleeps
in the old cemetery at Cambridge. He owned a farm near
Salem, and about thirteen years before his death he bought
a tract of land on the west side of the stream named above,
known later as Hurst's Creek, about four miles east of Cam-
bridge, the county seat. This farm was called "Weir Neck,"
and by inheritance became the property of his eldest son,

Samuel and Elijah Hurst 3

Stephen Hurst, the father of John Edward Hurst, the wealthy
and public-spirited merchant of Baltimore, whose death, early
in 1904, occurred but a few weeks prior to the fire which orig-
inated in his wholesale store on Hopkins Place and grew into
the greatest conflagration recorded in the annals of the Monu-
mental City.

Samuel Hurst was married first in 1786 to Lavinia Little-
ton, and the second time to Elizabeth Yardley in 1803. Of
the first marriage were born Elizabeth, 1787, who married
Thomas Wingate and died 1845; Stephen, born 1793, who
died 1846; Christiana, born 1795, married Lewis Finney,
died 1880; and Elijah. 1797, who died 1849. The fruit of
the second union was five children, Samuel, Jr., 1804 (died
1840) ; John, 1807 (died 1880) ; James, 1810 (died 1823) ;
Henrietta Maria, 181 3 (married William H. Swiggett, died
1847); and Emily, 1816 (died in childhood).

Elijah Hurst, the second son of Samuel and Lavinia Hurst,
soon after the death of his father came into possession of
the Salem farm in 1824, and lived there until 1838. He was
married first to Ann Catherine Colston in 183 1. Of this union
were born three children, Sarah Lavinia, March 2 7,, 1833
(died March 18, 1886) ; John Fletcher, August 17, 1834; and
Ann E.. August 3, 1838 (died August 18, 1839). His sec-
ond marriage was with Emily L. Travers, 1845, whose three
children died in infancy. Elijah Hurst was an energetic and
thrifty young farmer, of good habits, who identified himself
with the Methodist Episcopal Church about 1828. Like his
neighbors and probably by inheritance, he was a slaveholder,
though the number of his slaves was never large. An inter-
esting incident of his early Christian life is given by the Rev.
Dr. John S. Porter in his semicentennial sermon before the
Newark Conference in 1880, at its session in Paterson, New
Jersey :

4 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

In [830 I was sent to Dorchester Circuit, with Asa Smith as
preacher in charge, who was as a father to me, and we had a pros-
perous year. Dorchester Circuit was adjoining that I had just left,
and some of the people here had heard me preach before I came
among them, and had given me encouragement. Among those was a
young man of genial spirit and social habits, who visited at one of
our best homes, where the man of the house was a steward and class
leader, but was accustomed to take as a beverage something stronger
than cold water, and also gave it to his friends. This was known to
my young friend, who was interested in the temperance movement,
and, fearing for his neighbor and wishing to reform him, left a
tract on the subject at his house. This tract was discovered one
day, soon after I had left the premises, and it was thought the young
preacher had left it. It was accordingly laid aside till he should
return. When I came on my next round the good man produced the
tract on temperance, and requested me to read it in the presence of
the family during the evening hour. This was done, and the Lord
made that little tract a special blessing. The dangerous practice was
discontinued, and after I left the circuit that beloved brother wrote
me one of the most grateful letters I ever received, expressing his
obligations to me for having cured him of that evil practice. The
last time I saw that excellent man was in 1840, in the city of Balti-
more, when he fell on my neck and wept, repeating his sense of
obligation. I knew not at first who had left the tract there, knowing
only that I had not, and when informed of it by my young friend
who had made the deposit it was not thought best to correct the
existing impression. That young friend was Elijah Hurst, father
of our esteemed Dr. Hurst.

On the Salem Chapel Class book for 1831, "James Thomp-
son, Leader," appear the names of Elijah and Ann Catherine
Hurst, numbered 21 and 22 respectively, while numbers 30
and 31 just below give us the names of the later distinguished
citizen and governor, Thomas H. Hicks, and Ann Hicks,
his wife.

In 1838 Elijah purchased a farm of about two hundred and
fifty acres on the east side of Hurst's Creek, almost directly
opposite to the old homestead. "Weir Neck." To this farm
was given the name "Piney Xeck" — a few years later changed

Elijah and Ann Catherine Hurst 5

to the euphonious "Bonnie Brook" — the boyhood home of John
Fletcher. Thither he brought his family from Salem and
thereafter worshiped in Cambridge. He served as local magis-
trate for several years.

Elijah Hurst was a liberal giver and of a humorous turn.
His sense of humor was exhibited at the time Zion Methodist
Episcopal Church at Cambridge was built. When the time
came for furnishing the church Elijah was present at the meet-
ing. After subscribing twenty-five dollars each for his chil-
dren, Sallie and John, he hesitated about his own contribution.
At this moment the preacher's eye caught sight of Farmer
Thompson, who shouted so everyone could hear, "I'll give
ten dollars more than Lije Hurst." "Make my subscription
then two hundred dollars," exclaimed Elijah. Farmer Thomp-
son was thunderstruck and handed over his two hundred and
ten dollars with very reluctant grace.

Not long before his death Elijah Hurst purchased "Weir
Xeck" and left this farm to John Fletcher. He died August 4,
1849, after a long and severe illness. He said on nearing his
final hour, "Tell my friends I see my way clear to glory."

Ann Catherine Colston, the mother of John Fletcher Hurst
and the only child of Samuel and Rebecca (Catrup) Colston.
of Talbot County, was born December 3, 1808. Samuel Col-
ston was the son of Henry and Anne (Hopkins) Colston:
Henry Colston was the son of James (2) and Alice (Orem)
Colston; and James Colston (2) was the eldest son of James
(1) and Elizabeth (Bayley) Colston, and lived at Ferry Neck,
opposite Oxford. Talbot County; James Colston (1) lived in
Saint Michael's Parish and purchased "Clay's Hope," two
hundred acres on the north side of Choptank River, November
15, 1664, and died in 1729. Henry Colston, second of that
name, was born May 26, 1748, and died in 1824. He was
the maternal great-grandfather of Bishop Hurst, and, like

6 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

Samuel Hurst, served in the Maryland Line of the Continental
Army during the Revolution. He was in February, 1776, first
sergeant in the Heart of Oak company enlisted from Talbot
( )i 'Uiity, and was recommended at that time by the county con-
vention to the council for promotion to ensign, vice Pern-
Benson, already promoted.

Ann Catherine Colston was twenty-three years of age when
she was married to Elijah Hurst and came to the Salem farm
to live. She had been an exemplary member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church since she was eighteen, having been received
into the church by Rev. Levi Scott, later Bishop, during his
first year as preacher on Talbot Circuit in 1826-27. The
Salem home and later that at "Piney Neck,'" during the ten
years of her married life, were always open for the entertain-
ment of the itinerant preachers in their journeys, and particu-
larly during the camp meetings at Ennalls Springs. She was a
woman of refined intelligence and fervent piety. Her name in
the community was a synonym for charity and good will. Of
the early close of her life, in her thirty-fourth year, a beautiful
account was written by John Hurst, half-brother of her hus-
band. He says :

She labored under several attacks of asthma, which caused her a
great deal of uneasiness and suffering. . . . She asked her physi-
cian, on his first visit, what was his opinion of her case, and said,
'"Do not fear to alarm me, I am not afraid to die." Her husband
approached her bed, and asked her if she saw her way clear for
heaven. "Yes," she replied, "and I shall soon be gone." "Is this
death?" she exclaimed. "I feel as one just awakened from a dream,
and

' Not a cloud doth arise to darken my skies,
Or hide for a moment my Lord from my eyes.' "

Some time after, being supported by her pillows, she called her
husband and her two children to her bedside, and, taking each by
the hand, she said, "I shall meet vou in heaven. With me all is

His Mother's Death 7

well." After speaking of her class leader and some of her absent
friends, to whom she wished to be remembered, her countenance
assumed a heavenly paleness, and she closed her eyes in death.

The day of her death, May 3, 1841, was ever a sacred one in
the calendar of John Fletcher, then in his seventh year. The
memory of his sainted mother, especially of her final good-bye,
was ever a vivid one that impressed his heart and life. Its
annual recurrence was always remembered and very frequently
marked by some special note, even down to his later years.

Dr. Edward M. Hardcastle, of Easton, Maryland, wrote to
Bishop Hurst in 1899:

I have a very vivid recollection of your mother. As a boy I spent
much of my time at my Uncle Morris O. Colston's. She made a pet
of me as a little fellow, and I loved her very much. She had such a
gentle and lovely disposition. When at your house several years
ago your daughter let me in, and I was struck with her striking
resemblance to your mother.

John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

II
The Place

The Eastern Shore and "Old Dorset." — Cambridge

The peninsula lying between the Chesapeake and the
Atlantic is a very remarkable, if not an absolutely unique,
formation in its configuration and physical aspects. Its
northeastern quarter furnishes the habitat of the state of Dela-
ware; its southern part, like a narrowing nose, stretches out
into Accomac and Northampton Counties of Virginia, ending
sharply at Cape Charles ; and the northwestern and central
portions form the famous region known as the Eastern Shore
of Maryland, comprising nine rich counties. These begin with
Cecil on the north ; Kent comes next : then Queen Anne, each
reaching from the Chesapeake to Delaware; then Talbot, with
Caroline stretching eastwardlv to the west line of Delaware:
then Dorchester, occupying what might be called the subpenin-
sula between the Choptank and Xanticoke Rivers, and Wico-
mico on its east boundary, the most nearly inland of the nine;
and lastly Somerset, bounded on the east by Worcester, which
is washed on its eastern edge by the restless Atlantic. The
northern part is diversified by some elevations above the low
levels which mark the central and southern counties.

The Eastern Shore lies, like an arm thrust up by the ocean, be-
tween the Atlantic and the Chesapeake Bay; around it break the
surge and thunder of the sea; and ocean's breezes sweep perpetually
over it. It is a sandbar, but is something more; it is a garden and
an orchard. Nature seemed unkind when she strewed this sand
upon clay without stones; but she repented, clothed it all in verdure,
made it yield almost every fruit, vegetable, and berry in profusion
and of finest quality, filled even the swamps with cypress, cedar, and

The Eastern Shore 9

pine, stored the streams with fishes, filled the waters along the coasts
with shellfish, crustaceans, and valuable finny creatures, sent flocks
of birds into the fields and woods, and flights of wild fowl upon all
the waters.

The proportion of arable land is very high ; the soil is richly
fertile and makes quick response to the hand of toil. The
Chesapeake with its endless estuaries deeply indents the coast,
while the adjacent waters are studded with islands of every
shape. Very many of the farms have a water front making
the use of canoes and small boats as common as that of the
cart for transportation of products to market.

Its climate is salubrious, free from the extreme cold of the
northern latitudes and also of the inland regions of the same
latitude, while it is also shielded in great measure from the
parching heat of the summer by the breezes from ocean and
bay. rendering the days quite tolerable, the nights cool, and
the periods of high temperature very short. Maize grows here
to perfection, and barley, oats, and rye are staple grains.
Some wheat is found in the higher portions, but fruits and
vegetables of every kind abound and are of prime quality. In
the northern counties apples, apricots, cherries, peaches, pears,
plums, and quinces are plentiful. Cantaloupes, watermelons,
currants, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, whortleberries,
and cranberries find congenial home.

The waters of the Chesapeake and its numberless inlets fur-
nish a great variety of fish, such as the Spanish mackerel, bay
trout, shad, bluefish, white perch, herring, rockfish, pike,
pickerel, flounders, and others less prized, while the crabbing
industry and sport go on almost unceasingly, these shell-bound
creatures multiplying with astonishing rapidity and seeming
to throw themselves into the hands of all who offer them
animal bait of any kind.

The oyster, too, here has its established haunts and finds its

[o Joirx Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

rarest qualities, as well as its greatest size. Thousands of men
■rain their livelihood afloat for seven months out of the twelve
m oyster catching, not less than ten million bushels of the
luscious bivalves being taken from their beds by scooping
dredges and smaller tongs every year. Marvelous tales are
told of the diminutive rarities named the '"Cherrystones" and
the magnitude of the prices brought in foreign markets. Along
the shore and in the marshy regions turtles and the famous
and n<>\\- rare terrapin reward the hunter for table delicacies
with an occasional diamond-back or other gustatory prizes.
Wild fowl, including duck even to canvasbacks and redheads,
woodcock, partridge, wild pigeons, and snipe are among the
feathered inhabitants. Squirrels and rabbits are the chief
specimens of four-footed game.

Dorchester County received its name in honor of a personal
friend of the Calverts, Earl Dorset. The Abaco Indians con-
tinued to live peaceably in this region, large portions of which
were purchased from them about 1669, by the authority of the
colonial government under Lord Baltimore. Gradually the
land was thus acquired from the natives without serious dis-
turbance of public peace and safety, and a few Indians survived
among the population even down to 1870. Dorchester's soil
is in the north a sandy loam, while its other portions are mostly
of clay. White and gray clay underlies all of its six hundred
and ten square miles. Its central position on the Eastern Shore
gives it a share in nearly or quite all the industries and products
of the region.

Cambridge, the county seat, is a charming town, of which
Bayard Taylor's discriminating pen wrote, "It would be diffi-
cult to find a more delightful little place than Cambridge."
Founded in 1684. it gradually drew into its population from
the diverse streams of immigration a large number of people
of refinement and intelligence, whose homes and lives reflected

Cambridge. Maryland i i

much of the culture and conscience of the Old World. These
elements in active operation created an atmosphere at once
stimulating to the mind, promotive of calm dignity of manner,
and productive of positive religious convictions. The fruits
are seen in the growth and prosperity of both schools and
churches, keeping pace with the expansion of the village into
the town and of the town into the city. Not until 1868 was
Cambridge connected with the railroad system of the country,
the road to Seaford being built in that year.

Of the Eastern Shore Bishop Hurst has himself written in
his Introduction to Todd's Methodism of the Peninsula :

Slavery planted itself here with a strong hand. Fred Douglass
came from the Lloyd farm, whose broad acres were plowed by five
hundred slaves. One of my earliest recollections, when living in
Cambridge, was the Georgia-man, or slave trader, who sat in a
splint-bottomed chair in the veranda of Bradshaw's hotel, and
sunned himself, and waited for propositions from slave owners.
We boys feared him as a hobgoblin. I saw him every morning, in
the opening of the year, for it was at this time that he made his
annual northward journey for business purposes. But the war of
1861-65 put an end to all that. . . . The Methodist Episcopal
Church has nowhere had a more difficult task to perform than here,
and nowhere has it won more signal triumphs. Bishop Asbury was
regarded as a Tory during the Revolutionary War, and was sheltered
from danger by Judge White, of Delaware, who entertained him in
his own house until the danger was over. The Methodists were
considered a dangerous class of innovators, judged from any point
of view. The old bricks can still be seen in Cambridge of which had
been constructed the jail in which Freeborn Garrettson was once
imprisoned for some irregular ministerial exercises.

i2 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

III
The Boy

Schools, Sports, and Work

The marriage of Elijah Hurst and Ann Catherine Colston
in March, 1831, had been blest two years later in the birth of
their eldest child, Sarah Lavinia, who on October 31, 1854,
became the wife of Dr. John F. Kurtz, and died in 1886,
having survived her husband two years, and leaving six of
her eleven children to mourn the loss of a most faithful and
devoted mother. During the fourth summer of their wedded
life, on the seventeenth of August, 1834, was born their only
son, to whom their devout, if not prophetic, admiration of the
talents and spirituality of the saintly man of Madeley led them
to give the name of John Fletcher. It is currently reported to
this day among those who were living near at the time that
immediately after his birth he was carried by the nurse to the
garret of the old farmhouse, and, when asked why she did it,
she said, "I want him to become a high-minded man."

The quiet days of his infancy and early boyhood to the age
of four years were spent under the protecting roof and shady
maples of the Salem home. The tender and loving ministra-
tions of his mother, stronger in faith and mental powers than
in body — for she suffered repeatedly from asthma — and the
upright and vigorous example of his father, both parents lead-
ing a positive Christian life, combined to give to his childhood
a beautiful setting and development. The simple and hearty
ways and open hospitality of that rural Maryland home were
to be reflected in the simplicity, courage, and open-mindedness
of the son who then brought joy and later great honor to both

At School 13

father and mother and elder sister. The removal to "Piney
Xeck" in 1838, and the establishment of the family there on
the east side of Hurst's Creek nearly opposite the old family
homestead of " Weir Neck," were followed by the birth of a
second daughter, August 3, 1838, who bore the name of her
mother, but whose baby life went out a year afterward — bring-
ing the first household grief to the father and mother, to the
sister, little Sallie, six and a half years, and to John Fletcher,
now five.

For three brief years, broken by this sorrow and the ap-
proaches of disease, his mother presided with grace and gentle-
ness over the new home, and then passed to her eternal rest
and crown. She left to her only boy the rich legacy of a
mother's prayers. He carried with him to the end of life much
of her disposition, temperament, manner, and resemblance in
features. It is no wonder his pen formed a beautiful tribute
to her when in mature life he wrote: "If there is anything
immortal in this world it is a mother's prayer. Her face, by
a spiritual photography, is graven in the soul."

John Fletcher, who had learned at home to read and write,
began to go to the common school in the little schoolhouse
about a mile from his father's house, but adjoining a part of
the ''Piney Xeck" farm. His first teacher in the frame school-
house was William Mace ; others who followed were Richard
Keene, Zechariah Linthicum, James Radcliff, and Dr. George
Harmon — the last-named boarding with John's father. Soon
after his mother's decease his father secured a Christian
woman, named Mary Higgins, to care for his house and chil-
dren. She gave her time and labor to these interests faithfully
and intelligently for about four years. In 1845 Elijah Hurst
was married to Miss Emily L. Travers, of Taylor's Island, a
woman of Christian character, who took deep and kind interest
in both Sallie and lohn, now in their thirteenth and twelfth

14 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

years. Of her and the lad Judge L. T. Travers, of Taylor's
Island, a relative, wrote in 1894:

She was one of the most pious young ladies I ever knew, and was
my Sunday school teacher. . . . When I first knew Bishop Hurst he
was a very modest boy. about ten years old, attired in a plain brown
linen suit, following closely by the side of his father at the church
on Taylor's Island at the time when his father was paying attention
to Miss Travers. I was but a youth then, myself, and it did not
enter my tbought tbat he was to be a great man in the church and a
bishop. Perhaps I did not think as I might of what may be the man-
hood and history of a plain boy in rural life on a farm.

Dr. Francis P. Phelps, of Cambridge, whose father owned
the adjoining farm, used to go crabbing, duck-shooting, and
fishing with him. On one occasion, when after ducks, John
nearly met with a fatal accident. Both had ''blinds" on Hurst's
Creek. The ducks being slow in their appearance. John climbed
a tree to read a favorite history. He became so absorbed that
he did not see the ducks coming until he was startled by a loud
rep' >rt. Frank, not seeing John, had fired at the ducks straight
into the tree. John tumbled down and Frank thought he had
killed him. "Well." said John after his fright was over, "I
finished the book :" "and I the ducks.'' concluded Frank. Some
shoals near his father's farm, once famous as an Indian retreat,
was a favorite place for John to pore over books on early
American history. He frequently said that he was either going
to teach or preach, and sometimes he would preach and pray in
boy fashion at improvised meetings in an old storage building
at "Weir Neck," where all the children of the neighborhood
gathered for indoor games. Mr. James E. Sammons, of Wash-
ington, D. C. who was a schoolmate, says that when the corner
stone of Zion Methodist Episcopal Church in Cambridge was
laid, in 1844, John deposited a coin and his name in the stone
and told his mates tkat some day he would preach in that
church.

Eas'n Sho " Sports i

On a certain crabbing excursion of six boys, including John
and his two cousins. "Sammy" and White Hurst, about noon
they were painfully conscious of the demand of the "inner boy"
and decided "to work" old Farmer Billups for their dinner.
This was their scheme : John with voice almost a whisper
began, "These boys want some dinner." Sammy next took up
the refrain a little louder, "These boys want some dinner."
Then came White's turn, still in a crescendo, "These boys want
some dinner." After six repetitions of this formula, each time
with increasing emphasis, John's turn came again. He com-
menced very seriously, but broke out in a hearty laugh before
he had finished ; for every boy was watching Farmer Billups,
who then woke up to the humor of the situation and treated
the boys to a hearty dinner.

The strong trend to study, reading, and to general excellence
in the whole round of childhood duties was steadily manifest
during his next six vears' attendance at the district school. His
active sports and other mingling with boys of his own age are
set forth with much zest and particularity in a description writ-
ten by himself, and probably never before in print :

Our Sports and What Boys Did ox the Easterx Shore

In no respect was the life on the Eastern Shore more primitive or
apart from the usual than in the sports which formed so large a
share of the time and joy of "Eas'n Sho" boys. We must have
followed in the wake of the sports of the Western Shore boys ; for as
the weeks rolled around there were kites and tops and marbles and
mumblepeg on our side of the bay as well as on the western. But
there was no large place like Baltimore to give us toys. Our largest
town in old Dorset was Cambridge, and in the forties few were the
shops where playthings of any kind could be found. Then, as to a
farmer's boy, he could not buy even those whose bright colors most
fascinated. But playthings he had, and without the buying ! He
made them himself. He was prince of the jackknife. Take bows
and arrows. Far back in the forties the typical "Eas'n Sho" boy
could go through a forest of miles of varied timber and tell every

1 6 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

kind of wood or plant he saw. He knew just the age of hickory that
furnished him the best bow, and what wood was best for his arrows.
White oak would do for his bow, but not so well as a bit of hickory
without a knot. The arrow needed something to fortify it for reach-
ing a far-away mark. One of two things had to be done : point it
with tin — though brass was better — or so cut the wood at the end
that lead could be poured around it, thus making a firm and effective
head. The most of us had arrows of various devices and soon
learned which we could trust most fully.

I doubt whether in Cambridge as far back as the forties there had
ever been seen a kite which had come from the factory. We made
all our own kites, and knew all the art. Newspapers were tougher
then than now, and could well resist the wind. The wooden frame
had to be thin and delicate, yet strong. We knew the best shape and
size of the solid structure, and whenever it was ready, with a good
tail and with the tow string which we knew how to twist from the
flax, we soon had it soaring among its fellows far above forest and
field.

Even tops were sometimes made by the boys themselves. I re-
member well a boy who made his own top and twisted his own string,
but he long lacked the courage to spin it in the ring where the more
sumptuous tops from the shop were humming with energy. The
fashion was to plug another top. The top which could plug and
split another while spinning came to high honor and was often sub-
ject to barter or sale. One day the timid boy, with the top which
his own deft fingers had made, gained courage enough to spin his
top in the big ring and by a good stroke plugged one of the stylish
tops from the shop. Immediately the fortunate boy was approached
by another who traded with him his top from the factory for the
more homely one which the jackknife had made.

At the schoolhouse on the roadside, in Dorchester County, which I
first attended, there was no more thought of a ball from a store than
of the Trojan horse. India rubber was just coming into use, and
the first shoes of that material down on the Eastern Shore were
without any crude stuff. A worn-out rubber was cut into one or
more long strings and, by stretching well in the winding, these were
wound into a ball. To bring it into full size woolen yarn was
wound upon the india rubber.

I made my own lead pencils by melting shot and running the metal
into a little groove in the ground of the length I wanted the pencil.
My first top I made of a piece of solid pine, while the plug or
spindle I made by a laborious use of a file on a wrought iron nail.

Birds and Books 17

All my kites I made with my own hand. I made all my bird traps,
and knew how to so set them as to entrap the unwary. But I must
here confess I never caught a thoroughly good mocking bird in one
of them — but, if any mocking bird at all, only the poor French
variety. These traps we would suspend in a tree and disguise them
skillfully. There was another class of birds which spent their time
on the ground. The cage to catch them was made of slats, like a
trap, all covered with leaves to appear to be a part of the ground.
Lucky the partridge not beguiled with one of the brown traps which
the "Eas'n Sho" boy knew so well how to devise. For squirrels we
despised the modern way of shooting. Indeed, happy the boy who
had an old-time flint gun, for all over the Eastern Shore they still
existed. But happier still was he who had a double-barreled gun. I
had one of the latter which was the admired of all the boys who on
Saturdays roamed over the fields of "Piney Neck." This I used
long before I was able to hold it off at arm's length. But no matter
for that, Black Tom was my unfailing company. When aiming at
catbirds, or snipe, or, I am sorry to say, even robins, I would rest
the gun on Tom's shoulder and fire both barrels at once. But Tom
had his turn and fired with equal danger and haphazard disposition.
The wonder is that somebody's ears were not deafened for life or
his head blown off. The game, such as it was. was common to us
both, and Tom knew just what kind of a withe to make to bear it
home.

Fishing nets the farmers' boys were always skillful in knitting,
and we all knew that the heart of cedar or a bit of hickory furnished
the best material for making the needle — not a straight one but a
kind of flat rod which required a deft use of the knife. The in-
ventive faculty of the typical boy was so far developed that he could
plait his own straw hat, knit his own woolen gloves, ride a horse
without a saddle and with only a halter for a bridle, cover his own
ball, made of yarn, with leather as neatly sewn as any now to be
found in the window of a toy store.

At the end of the above penciled lines are some notes in-
tended for future elaboration, and each reader is invited to
make free use of his own imagination in developing such as
"Pike's Arithmetic," "Jones's Arithmetic," "Very hard books,"
as bearing on the mathematical evolution of the lad; "Plu-
tarch's Lives," as a vestibule to the biographic, historical, and
3

i8 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

classic studies of later decades ; "otter, muskrats, rabbits, squir-
rels, ducks," as the game on which the future hunter for ancient
treasures practiced with trap and gun ; "ink, suspenders, shoes
from skins — made by boys." as the foregleams of the writer,
the supporter of men and institutions, and the teacher of those
whose feet should be clothed with the sandals of the gospel.
In a final notation lurks the possibility of a school-day comedy,
with certain elements approaching the tragic, for we read mis-
chief in every dash of the trio of words, "Lizards — stove —
recess," and can almost hear the cry of the punished — whether
guilty or innocent — in which our John Fletcher figures as prob-
ably only a sympathetic on-looker.

The Youth 19

IV
The Youth

At Cambridge Academy

It was a long step in the progress of the boy when, about the
beginning of his eleventh year, he entered the Cambridge
Academy, a private institution which had won a good public
standing for secondary education and the preparation of young
men for college. Three of his teachers here during the five or
six years of his attendance were Gardner Bailey, James W.
Conner, and William Campbell. His studies at first were the
common English branches, through the usual gradations of
grammar, with composition, and of mathematics from arith-
metic to algebra and geometry, with Latin and Greek during
the last two or three years.

His daily trips from "Piney Neck" to Cambridge in the
morning, and return in the afternoon, during the terms of
school, were made sometimes on foot and sometimes on horse-
back. These equestrian journeys were made, when he could
have his choice, astride "Major," a favorite sorrel pony. At
first this ride was a bareback performance, no saddle to fit the
pony being at hand. At length John's longing for a saddle led
him to appeal to his father for one. His father took kindly to
the request, but required as a shrewd and happy condition that
John should commit to memory a certain hymn, then and now
in frequent use. The lad was eager to acquire a saddle "for a
song." but met his father's good bargain with a counter propo-
sition that the saddle be given him immediately and the hymn
learned afterward. To this his father gave consent, saying,
"I will trust you to keep your word." The saddle was bought,

20 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

the promise was kept, and the hymn thoroughly imbedded in
the tenacious memory of the young student. The selection
made by his father was John Cennick's "Children of the heav-
enly King," and peculiarly appropriate for the schoolboy
mounted for his four-mile ride was the second line, " As ye
journey, sweetly sing." Through storm and sunshine the itin-
erant youth lived the spirit of that hymn down to life's latest
hour as one who from his heart of hearts believed and knew

that

"Jesus Christ, our Father's Son,
Bids us undismayed go on."

Many a day, however, did John make the daily round on foot,
trudging cheerfully with his books and luncheon the entire dis-
tance, except when good fortune overtook him in the chance to
ride a part of the way. While a boy, and until he was sixteen,
he suffered at times from severe attacks of asthma or phthisic,
as it was then called. The struggle for breath sometimes seized
him so violently while on the road between home and academy
that he was obliged to throw himself upon the ground for a time
until he could regain sufficient breath and strength to go on ;
but he always went on.

He was while in boyhood possessed of an even temper, not
easy to take offense, and ready to make up in case of minor
differences of feeling whenever they occurred. He had one
physical encounter with a boy named Vaughn, who played the
part of a bully so often and so meanly that a spirited collision
one day surprised the bully into a sudden meekness and a
quiet that was never again broken so far as John was con-
cerned. His tormentor sought new victims from that day.

His complexion was fair and ruddy ; his hair very light ; his
form well rounded and of good proportions, a trifle under
average size. His posture was upright, save a slight inclina-
tion of his head forward and a droop of shoulders, due to his

At the Watering Trough 21

asthma and its distressing shortness of breath. This forward
bend of his neck, suggestive of Alexander von Humboldt's
poise of head, clung to him all through his life, confirmed or
perhaps a trifle increased by his studious habits and heavy
literary labors, but was by no means altogether the "scholar's
stoop," for his usual posture in study and writing in mature
life was standing at a high desk hour after hour and day after
day, as he plodded through a hundred tasks.

When John was in his early teens the question arose in his
father's mind, and in his own as well, whether he should
become and remain a farmer, or go on with his work at school
and enter some path that should properly follow an advanced
education. Being the only son, he was naturally expected to
follow his father as proprietor of the farm. The conflict
between the natural bent of the boy toward learning and the
paternal desire to keep him near came to a crisis one bright
summer day when John was about fourteen. His father sent
him to water the horses, several in the herd ; and the water was
at some distance from the barn. John had a book in his hand.
He rode one horse and the others followed. At the watering
place he found it convenient to slip from the horse's back to
the trough, as many a boy does, when the height of the trough
makes the descent easy. The boy found an easy place to sit,
opened his book for a draught from its depths, became ab-
sorbed, forgot all about the horses, and, when they had disap-
peared from view, slowly returned to the house, too keenly
conscious of the situation for his own comfort, and wondering
what his disappointed father would say to him. His father
spoke the word which opened the way for the son's whole
career: "John, there is no use of you staying around here.
You will never make a farmer. Pack your trunk and go to
school." The delighted youth obeyed his father, and began
boarding at Cambridge in the family of Captain Shadrach

22 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

Mitchell. This arrangement gave him more time for the
severer studies which marked the last two years at the
Academy, and were in the direct line of preparation for college.
At this time he came under the instruction of William
Campbell, who had come into the institution at the beginning
of 1848. This cultured Irishman was a splendid instructor,
and subjected the young student, "in common with his school-
mates," as a written report sent to his father for January, 1848,
declares, "to a searching examination." This report goes on
to say also :

Having himself been convinced of his deficiency in most branches,
he deserves my warmest commendation for having resolutely com-
menced the work of improvement. Much could not be done in one
month, but he has manifested the desire to profit by instruction, and
has been laying the sure foundation for solid improvement. His
capabilities are such as, if aided by persevering attention, will secure
the most satisfactory results. In his Latin studies there has been
already much improvement. In other exercises he has maintained a
fair position, with the exception of geometry, in which I cannot say
that he has given me satisfaction. His conduct has been uniformly
excellent.

This record of four weeks under the stimulus of a new and
master teacher is an index of the growing love of the young
student for language and letters, a fair enjoyment in other
departments of knowledge, with an indifferent and perhaps
waning interest in the science of surfaces, angles, and magni-
tudes.

His good offices as a peacemaker found opportunity one day
when Frank Phelps and some other boys of the school toiled
successfully at the task of leading, pulling, and lifting a goodly
sized calf into one of the rooms of the second story of the old
Academy. John did not actually join in the sport, but stood
outside. When he saw the master coming he was convulsed
with laughter at the interesting juncture. From John the

His Uncle John 23

teacher learned what was going on, but the rising tide of
wrathful feeling in the breast of the stern disciplinarian was
stemmed by the infectious merriment of the witness, and was
itself turned into a laughing fit which soon spread among all
the teachers and gave the offenders immediate and full for-
giveness for their mischievous pranks.

The death of his father, Elijah Hurst, in August, 1849, left
John, now fully orphaned, to the guardianship of his uncle,
John Hurst, who responded nobly to the important trust thus
committed to him by his elder half-brother. John Hurst was
at that time a successful merchant in Baltimore in partnership
with General John S. Berry. His interest in his nephew never
lagged, but was active and helpful at many points in his career,
and frequently showed itself in friendly advice and opinion
concerning the young man's methods and plans, usually in ap-
proval, but sometimes suggesting important changes.

As early as 1849, his thoughts of going to college assumed
shape definite enough for him to write this letter from Cam-
bridge to the president of Dickinson, on the fifth of December:

Dear Sir: Having seen a catalogue of Dickinson College, I have
concluded to go, provided I can get a room in the College or else-
where. Master Bowdle wrote that there were only two or three
rooms vacant, and I thought that it would be well for me to write to
you to reserve me one if they are not occupied before you receive
this letter. It is doubtful whether I shall be there or not before
Christmas, which caused me to write, thinking that fresh students
may come and that you would reserve me a room from the time that
you receive this, as there is no doubt at present about my coming.
If there cannot be a room left for me I would like to get a place in
some private family, and you would confer a favor upon me if you
would bespeak me one. I would be gratified to receive an answer
to this, that I may know what course to pursue.

Yours with respect, John F. Hurst.

The Master Bowdle whose letter is mentioned above was a
Maryland boy acquaintance already at Carlisle, whose corre-

24 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

spondence had evidently stimulated young Hurst to this rather
sudden, and as it proved premature, application for a room ;
for he remained at Cambridge until the following summer in
earnest and successful prosecution of his studies. During the
year 1849 he began, as a side exercise to his literary reading,
the copying, into a book, of passages which struck his fancy
as possessing special value. The entries in this book were
completed in 1850 at Carlisle. The wide range of his reading
and the high taste of his sixteenth year appear in extracts from
Horace, Virgil, Cicero, Ovid, Ouintilian, Sallust, and Seneca,
in Latin ; while the English quotations embrace Milton, Pollok
(Course of Time, many), Thomson's Seasons, Irving's Tales
of a Traveler and Bracebridge Hall, Hume, Robespierre, Kirke
White, Milman, Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Daniel, Young,
Pope, Sam Johnson, Howard, Addison, Cowley, Baillie,
Dryden, Franklin, Moore, Samuel Butler, Byron, Rogers, and
Gray.

He received and accepted an invitation to deliver the public
address in Cambridge on the Fourth of July, 1850, and ac-
quitted himself with honor before a large audience. His con-
nection with Cambridge Academy ceased about the same time
with the departure of his esteemed teacher in July, 1850, when
Mr. Campbell said in a letter of appreciation and suggestion
to Mr. John Hurst, the guardian of his promising pupil :

John has been my pupil since my appointment to the Academy,
January, 1848, and during all that time he has invariably given me
satisfaction and cause for pride. His conduct has been uniformly
excellent, his industry ceaseless, and his improvement rapid and at
the same time sound. His abilities I consider to be of a high order,
and, coupled with his untiring perseverance, good judgment, and
good principles, they afford the fairest promise of a manhood of
usefulness and honorable distinction. I am satisfied that in any
business or profession his excellent sense and his principles would
secure him a highly respectable position ; but it seems to me that his
talents and habits fit him especially for the study of the law. . . .

His Conversion 25

However far I may be separated from him in his future life, I
cannot cease to feel a lively interest in his welfare, nor can I deny
myself the hope that his abilities, rightly directed, will, under
Providence, render him a pride to his friends, a distinguished, a
useful, and a good man.

V
Conversion

The child of many prayers, and the youth who doubtless
kept up the childhood habit of secret prayer when mother and
father had been taken from him and home had thereby been
robbed of much of its meaning except as a hallowed memory,
it was an altogether reasonable expectation on the part of his
friends that he should in keeping with the example and pre-
cept of his parents, a "pious pair," enter into an open espousal
of the cause and profession of the faith of Jesus Christ, as his
personal Saviour and the world's Redeemer. This expectation
became a reality during his sixteenth year. How earnestly and
happily he took this step let his love-feast testimony at the
Northwest Indiana Conference in Brazil in 1889, recorded in
the Western Christian Advocate, tell :

I have been trying to serve God now ever since the year 1850. I
had no parents — they had gone home to heaven — and I was among
strangers. My mother died before I was seven years old, so that I
don't remember her face fully — just a mere outline. I think I shall
know it; I think I shall recognize it when the fight is over, and
when the happy meetings come, never to separate. My father was a
Christian man, and he died when I was fourteen. I was going home
from a little debating society, pretty late at night, and, on the other
side of the street, as I was going toward my boarding place, I heard
them singing in the Methodist church. With me was a young school
companion, who afterward entered the ministry. We went over and
went into the meeting, and crowded pretty well up to the front. The
minister saw us, and came down and spoke to me, and asked me if I

26 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

didn't want to go to heaven. We both went to the altar, time after
time, meeting after meeting. I was seeking light all the time, trying
to do something, trying to perform some obligation, trying to under-
stand him, and when I came to see that I could not understand any-
thing, could not do anything, he gave me light. One night, going
home from church, I remember that a change came over me ; a light
broke out before me : there was a little river in the distance, and it
seemed to shine like silver; I didn't know what it all was; I thought
it was some sudden glow of good feeling. I went to my room full
of joy, and then the Lord revealed to me. "You have a new heart!"
The Lord had given it to me ; there was no consciousness of sin. I
felt, like Pilgrim, that the burden had fallen from my shoulders. I
could now see it, because I had gotten to the foot of the cross, and I
have been trying to serve the Lord ever since. I have been thankful
to him that the change was so sudden, so striking; that I have, been
able to look back upon it as the hour when God, for Christ's sake,
spoke peace to my soul.

A mention of the preacher who helped him into the king-
dom, and of his fellow student and seeker after God, is
made in a beautiful and grateful tribute which he wrote in
1894, to the memory of the Rev. James A. Brindle, and
which was published in the Peninsula Methodist :

In the year of 1849-50, Rev. Henry Colclazer and Rev. James A.
Brindle were preachers on Cambridge Circuit, Snow Hill District,
Philadelphia Conference. During the winter there was a very ex-
tensive revival in the town of Cambridge. . . . My friend was Douglas
Dashiell, who afterward became an honored minister in the Metho-
dist Episcopal Church, South. His field of labor was in Texas.
Brother Brindle was as truly a man of God as anyone whom I
have ever known. His life was one of rare consecration. Every-
thing he touched was with a master hand. His calm and patient
manner, his gentleness and sympathy, and his devout life made a
profound impression upon me. He was very far from ostentatious,
courteous in language, but of desperate and quiet energy.

John Fletcher Hurst bought his first Discipline from his
pastor James A. Brindle, and his first class leader was James
Bryan, of Cambridge.

At Dickinson College 27

VI
The Young Man

The Collegian. — At Dickinson. — The Union Philosophical Society

The composition of a Sophomore friend read during his
Cambridge life first awakened John F. Hurst's desire to go to
college. In his address at the funeral of Bishop Jesse T. Peck,
in 1883, Bishop Hurst made a profound impression by his
tribute to this friend of his youth, and thus refers to the influ-
ence of that educator in turning him toward Dickinson :

My mind goes back from this hour many years, over the chasm of
a generation, thirty-three years. Away down in the south of Mary-
land, on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake, when attending a
camp meeting I was told that the president of Dickinson College was
to preach on a certain day. Such a sermon was seldom heard in
that peninsula. Some one had said "college" to me a few times
before this, and I had thought of seeking a college education, but
this seemed well-nigh impossible. I remember that a kind minister
brought me to the preacher of the afternoon. I told him something
about going to college. Said he, "Don't trouble yourself. Go home
and wait until the opening of the term and then you take the stage
across by York and come there and I will meet you and we will live
happily together." And for two years I was a student there under
him. When Dr. Collins succeeded him I remained two years; but
no tender heart ever beat more keenly in sympathy with the student
than his. The friend of schools from the Atlantic to the Pacific !
So I think of him as a man who took a boy by the hand, and ever
since the memories of the man have been precious.

The kind preacher who introduced the shrinking youth to the
college president was none other than the Rev. Dr. Robert H.
Pattison, father of the ex-governor of Pennsylvania, the late
Hon. Robert E. Pattison.

Among the thirty-six names enrolled as Freshmen at Dickin-

2S John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

son College in September, 1850, was that of John Fletcher
Hurst. The catalogue for 1849-50 indicates the standard of
the young student's preparation:

Candidates for Freshman class must be well acquainted with
Arithmetic; Davies's First Lessons in Algebra; Geography; Outlines
of Ancient and Modern History; the English, Latin, and Greek Gram-
mars (McClintock and Crooks's First Books in Latin and Greek) ;
Caesar's Commentaries (two books) ; Virgil's ^ineid (five books) ;
Xenophon's Anabasis (two books) ; Roman Antiquities and My-
thology; Greek Reader and the Historical Books of the New
Testament.

He was assigned to 48 West College with William J. Bowdle,
of Church Creek, Maryland, as .roommate. The change of
scene from the blending of water and land about the inlets and
necks of the Eastern Shore to the region of the Blue Ridge was
a signal one for the youth of sixteen, and seems to have greatly
benefited his health in a nearly total relief from the asthma.
Upon his entrance into the new and strange scenes of college
life he received and ever afterward treasured this letter from
his pastor at Cambridge, sent with his certificate of church
membership, and dated September 17:

Dear Brother John: I trust you are pleased with your new
location and situation. You cannot expect to find everything as you
may wish or desire. You may well suffer some privations in order
to secure that one thing so much desired, a good education, and so
necessary to make you useful in either church or state. Doubtless
you will be exposed to temptations notwithstanding the religious
example you have set before you in the officers in the Institute;
therefore it will be absolutely important for you to both watch and
pray that you enter not into temptation. Remember the Eye of God
is upon you and his Ear is open to your prayer; his Arm is able to
Mipport you. and nothing shall harm you whilst you are a follower
of that which is good. Remember your classmates pray for you and
Jesus prays for you, and the Holy Spirit makes intercession for you
with groanings which cannot be uttered. Choose those for your
companions who, like yourself, are striving to save their souls. If

Union Philosophical Society 29

you cannot find such, you had better hold yourself aloof from them
all; only treat them with kindness and show to all around you have
been with Jesus. But I trust you will find some who will take you
by the hand and assist you upon your heavenly journey. I am sure
we shall miss you very much in our class room, for you deserve
much credit for your strict attendance. I hope you will not slacken
the reins of duty, though you may be a stranger in a strange place.
And again, my dear young brother, let nothing draw or drive you
from your secret devotions. However much we may think of learn-
ing, we should not give up our closet devotion to obtain it. Converse
with your Father in heaven. Pour out your heart to him, and.
although your father and mother have gone to glory before you, the
Lord will take you up. And another duty I wish to enforce is that
of reading, yea, searching the Scriptures regularly, frequently,
prayerfully, and I have not the shadow of a doubt upon my mind the
Lord will make a useful man of you, both in the church and in the
world. Join the church as soon as convenient, and be faithful to
attend all her ordinances. May God bless you more and more and
save you with the power of an endless life. So prays your brother
in Christ, James A. Brindle.

I wish you to write me soon. Open your heart to one who feels
the deepest interest in your spiritual and eternal welfare.

J. A. B.

Two large societies, with literary and social features, em-
braced nearly the whole body of students, and were rivals in se-
curing members and in the public debates and exhibitions which
marked every school year. In October young Hurst was voted
in as a member of the Union Philosophical Society, and threw
his energy into its interests as distinguished from those of the
" Belles-Lettres." The records of the Society show that he was
a faithful member of the organization and prominent in its
work. In his first year he was elected assistant librarian, later
became librarian, and still later was elected censor. In the two
succeeding years he filled the office of secretary and treasurer.
Especially does his name stand prominent on the records as an
essay writer and debater. He was evidently a great reader, for
the librarian's books from 1850 to 1853 snow many books

3<d John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

charged to his name. He took part in a very animated debate
in which the whole society participated, on the question, "Re-
solved, That the interests of the United States would be con-
served by the abolition of slavery." He was on the affirmative,
and his side won, though there were many Southerners in the
society, Dickinson drawing many from the South.

Among the literary addresses which he made in chapel was
one on "The Influence of Music," delivered May 6, 1854.
"The Beauties of National Art" was given at the sixty-fifth
anniversary of the Union Philosophical, July 11, 1854, two
days before his graduation. From the former, on which is
indorsed "plenty of ladies present," we select a few sentences
on a theme which, so well treated in his college days and so
assiduously cultivated in his first pastorate, seems to have lost
its attraction for him in his maturer life :

From the time when the morning stars first sang together, it has
been powerful enough to unite the tastes of man to ennobling ob-
jects, no less than to calm the convulsions of him who writhes
beneath the throes of malignant passions. Even though it adds new
pleasures to the achievements of the past, and fresh hopes for the
future, it does not lose sight of its mission when the hand of ad-
versity casts a blight upon the spirits. The harp which had often
cheered the heart of the Hebrew King did not hang mute upon his
palace walls when his rebellious son had fallen a victim to his un-
feeling nature. . . . Like the fabled tent of the Arabians, music
can so expand and contract its folds as to adapt itself to any climate
or to any order of society. The experience of ages has proved that
Mars is no less a skillful musician than Apollo. If some "Auld
Lang Syne" can place us amid the cherished scenes of youth, and
retrace the most pleasing memories of early days, martial music
leads every heart a willing captive to its charms. When France
needed an incentive to resist the corrupt rule of her Bourbon king,
the Marseillaise converted an army of royalists into the warmest
supporters of republicanism. . . . But music was never made to
subserve the unholy purposes of misanthropy or melancholy. On
the contrary, if all the romantic attachments in ancient or in modern
times were traced from their origin to their consummation, there

A Sophomore 31

would be found as many instances of love at first sound as of "love
at first sight."

His oration on "The Beauties of National Art," after a glow-
ing appreciation of Oriental and European art of ancient and
classic times, closes in a strain of prophecy for his own loved
land:

When national art shall enjoy a more extended rule, its beauties
will brighten up the dark caverns and gild the rugged mountain
peaks of the Western continent. Our own Washington will become
another Rome without its vices ; our own rotunda will become
another Forum whose paintings and statues shall witness no political
convulsions, but shall bind the heart of every citizen to the interests
of his country. Our blue Potomac will become the Tiber of America,
with no pagan associations, whose banks shall be studded with monu-
ments erected to the memory of her honored sons. It will then be
left for future years to found a tower which shall not cause a new
confusion of tongues, but which shall witness the union of the jarring
interests of the world, and, while reflecting the glories of the rising
and the setting sun upon a race of freemen, the nations of the earth
shall crown its capital with the laurel wreaths of victory and honor.

VII
A Sophomore's Diary

The phases of his social, intellectual, moral, and religious life
while in college are clearly reflected in sundry passages from his
diary, which bears the heading

DICKINSON COLLEGE

Carlisle, Pa.

1852 No. 20 East College

Sunday, April II. — Having formerly kept a "Diary," I concluded

that it was too much of a "bore," and for that reason gave it up. It

has become fashionable, however, to keep a diary, and, prejudging

32 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

that it will be useful as well as entertaining, in after life, to read
some of my Journal, I have finally concluded to resume the task.
My desire is to keep an exact account of my religions experience,
and to state my daily progress and retrogression in religious and
mental culture.

Surely a student's life is one of change, sometimes agreeable and
sometimes otherwise, yet altogether I think there is a vast deal of
enjoyment, perhaps more than will counterbalance all of the un-
pleasantness. To-day is rainy, and of all the days calculated to
generate the "blues" I do think that "rainy Sundays" surpass. Yet
we console ourselves with the thought that Providence knows better
than we do, and it is all for the best. I heard Mr. Peck, of the
Senior Class, preach; his text was concerning the "grain of mustard
seed," meaning the obscurity of the church and her gradual increase
down to the present time. I expected a better one than I did hear,
yet he is young and has time (if he live) for improvement. I did
not enjoy myself very much in the afternoon and evening. It was
because I was engaged too much in secular conversation. I heard
the Rev. Dr. Wickes (our pastor) preach at night; the sermon was a
continuation of a former one. I went to sleep, as usual, at night. I
have often tried to rid myself of such an unenviable custom. I was
afterward told that the sermon was an excellent one. Immediately
before the Doctor commenced, the choir sang the "Easter Anthem."
It brought back to my mind the many times my father has sung it to
me. Indeed, I felt like shedding tears over my departed parent.
May the time never come when my thoughts will not go back to
earlier years, when a kind father and an indulgent mother were
almost the sole objects of my affections.

12. — Rose at five and commenced my daily studies. Didn't study
much at night, because I was invited downtown to take some ice
cream with some of my fellow students; didn't enjoy myself much
because there was too much joviality. The most of the students
were members of the church. Two backsliders went to a hotel and
partook of the unnecessary. This was very unpleasant to the rest
of the party.

13. — Rose at four o'clock and felt quite unwell from our night's in-
dulgence. However, it soon wore off. I was called upon to recite in
Mathematics (trigonometry), Greek, and Taylor's History. Nearly
all the class failed. The lesson was very long and difficult to commit
to memory. I knew the part that I was called upon to recite, but, so
many failing before me, I felt rather delicate in regard to it, and
consequently refused to recite.

A Sophomore 33

14. — I did not study much to-day. I fear that I am less studious
than I ought to be. Last year I used to be mentally employed rather
too much and had not sufficient time to take exercise. This year I
fear that circumstances are vice versa.

15. — Our class recited our first recitation in Cicero. I like his style
very much, and have no doubt that it will be a pleasant study. I
was called up in it. Made out pretty well. I was also called up in
Dr. Peck's room in Paley's Evidences. I made out pretty well in
that also. Went to Dr. Peck's prayer meeting. It was one in his
own house, and the object of it was entire sanctification. I have
been seeking that blessing for some time. My mind turned directly
toward that object on account of reading a little book called Notes
by the Way, or the Way of Holiness. I have made a solemn assevera-
tion that I will go on in the pursuit of my object, and will never
give up the hope of entire sanctification, and efforts to attain it.
May God help me !

16. — Chum (Milbourne) and myself have commenced a habit which
I think will be very improving, that of having prayers before we
commence the duties of the day, and immediately after we have
finished them. I was called up to the Chair to recite on Taylor's
History. I made out tolerably well. The account of the fall of
Babylon, a description of Nineveh and Babylon, was very interesting.

17. — Rose some time before prayers, reviewed my morning recita-
tion, and took a walk up the railroad with a friend, Fountain of
Maryland. One of the new students, Chew, was facultised to-night
by some of the Student Faculty. Quite a muss was raised; no damage
done, however.

18. — Rose a little before the second bell. Went to class meeting
(Professor Tiffany's). I afterward went to a class meeting down-
town. It partook more of Methodism in my opinion than those at
college; besides, it bore a strong resemblance to those that I had
formerly attended, and which had little of formality about them.
Professor Tiffany delivered a fine sermon ; the text was, "Behold
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us." In the
evening I went to the First Presbyterian Church — Rev. Mr. Wing;
a very pleasant discourse upon the truth that Christ's coming has
more than compensated for all the evil which Adam brought on the
human race. It is quarterly meeting at our church, but I preferred

Mr. Wing rather than Mr. , the presiding elder. Having

read my complement of chapters, I retired.

19. — Rose early. The college again out of wood ; this makes several
times that we have been out; such times and such a college as this
4

34 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

that cannot furnish fuel to keep us warm ! Our class got off from
recitation on account of it. A Green Horn is again being put
through. It is said that he gave his questioners some sarcastic re-
torts. I started over to it, but recollected that I had just refused
going to Love Feast.

21. — Read a little in Hume.

22. — Rose a little before prayers. Felt the effects of eating just
before going to bed. Resolved to do less of it. Read some in Hume's
England. Went to Dr. Peck's prayer meeting. We had a delightful
time. Several of us were praying to Almighty God to sanctify us,
soul, body, and spirit. I find my greatest difficulty in not bringing
my faith to bear upon the present moment. I have this night set
out to seek God earnestly, and never tire until I am fully sanctified.
May God assist me in my endeavors. I know that it is at present
the greatest object of my life to be the Lord's unreservedly. If
there be yet a "bosom sin" remaining, may God root it out. I am
determined to be sanctified, and I do believe God will speedily do it.

23. — Rose at four o'clock and took a walk out in the country, mainly
for the purpose of practicing my speech for Saturday. Had an idea
of writing a "description of the Cumberland Valley" and sending it
to one of the papers of my native county. Doubtful.

24. — Finished the fifth volume of Hume's England.

25. — Read an article in Philadelphia Christian Advocate on the
proposed building of another Methodist Episcopal church in Carlisle.
Thought there were a great many objectionable things in it, and that,
if I could fulfill my intentions, I would reply to it, favoring the
"proposal."

26. — Wrote two pages of cap paper, to have published in reply to a
fellow classmate's article in opposition to the erection of a new
church.

27. — Wrote more of my communication.

28. — Spherical trigonometry very hard. Called up in it. Didn't
make out very well.

30. — Attended Friday evening prayer meeting. Large attendance.
Violent thunderstorm. Very fearful in them, more so than I ought
to be. I suppose it originates from a consciousness of not having
done my duty.

A Sophomore 35

VIII

dose of His Sophomore Year

May 3, 1852. — This day eleven years ago my mother died. Surely
no one knows the good a mother does until he has experienced his
loss. May I ever live mindful of her good advice.

5. — Changed my boarding house — found it (Miss Miller's) more
agreeable than at the college table. Wrote a piece for publication, on
Cumberland Valley. Took a great deal of exercise in playing ball.

6. — Attended Dr. Peck's prayer meeting. Very good one indeed.
Experienced great satisfaction, but did not receive the blessing which
I so much long after.

8. — Our class society had a meeting at night. Question was, "Does
nature do more than art in forming the orator?" Had the negative
of the question. My side obtained the decision.

9. — Read some in Pilgrim's Progress.

10. — Did not rise in time to take my walk. Was not called up in
any recitation. Played ball to make up for the loss of my walk.
Walking, however, seems to benefit me more than any other
exercise.

14. — Saw, in the paper, the article I had written in reply to a piece
written by my classmate, Luckenbach. He decided it to be a lame
effort. Of course he would not like it. Great deal of curiosity as to
the author of it. Received a letter from my step-mother. She kindly
invited me to spend my vacation with her at Federalsburg.

16. — Read Headley's Sacred Scenes and Characters through. Very
flowery. Apparently very sacrilegious. Thought his comparison of
Paul and Napoleon was by no means right — to compare sacred and
profane characters.

19. — Revised an old composition on Oberlin for publication in the
Sunday School Advocate.

20. — I made a determination to rise early and walk an hour before
prayers ; also to regulate my diet.

21. — Attended Friday evening prayer meeting and while there (by
no means a fit place) thought of my present condition, pecuniarily.
I knew that I was running in debt to my uncle to a certain extent,
and devised two plans by which I might better my situation. First,
I thought of going to Baltimore and entering some store in order
that my income might run up and my health be resuscitated.
Secondly, of going on my farm and remaining with the tenant for a

36 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

year, where I would be able to study, and also to oversee how things
go on, as well as to take sufficient exercise for my health.

22. — Wrote to my uncle on the topic mentioned above.

23. — Invited by two friends to spend the evening in reading and
examining portions of the Bible. Consented and received great en-
joyment. Felt great encouragement to go on in the pursuit of the
blessing of entire sanctification. I almost had the witness, but could
not command enough of present faith. May the Lord assist me in
my endeavors.

25. — Read Hon. Daniel Webster's speech in Faneuil Hall. Pleased
with it. Took a solitary walk after supper. Our class excused
Professor Johnson from his recitation.

26. — Heard of the newly elected bishops (Scott, Simpson, Baker,
and Ames) of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

28. — Commenced reading Junius; also read some in Hume's
England.

29. — Finished Hume's England. I wonder that he wrote as little
against religion as he did. He is, however, evidently prejudiced.

30. — Commenced an article for publication, on "Moral Education."

31. — Read some in Junius. Commenced Macaulay.

June 1. — Received the paper containing my piece on "Cumberland
Valley." Great many mistakes made in it.

2. — I do not make as good recitations in Cicero as in Horace; the
latter is far easier than the former; it is in consequence of my not
taking sufficient pains in getting the recitations out. Received a
letter from my uncle advising me to take a respite of a year from
college, just the object of my desire.

5. — Commenced Russell's History of France. Commenced compo-
sition on the "Pleasures of Education."

10. — Sold my furniture, an act contrary to the statutes. Found some
matter in Hallam's Middle Ages. Very useful for my "Index
Rerum." Attended Dr. Peck's prayer meeting. Felt almost satisfied
of my perfect state; but my faith fled almost instantly. O that I
could be perfect in soul, body, and spirit. I shall, with God's
assistance, strive on.

11. — A classmate, Emory, accidentally struck me in the eye while
playing ball. It hurts very much and keeps me from studying much.

16. — Called up in Coleridge's Introduction to Greek Classic Poets.
Lost a library book, Junius.

18. — Our class agreed to prepare for recitation 14 pages. Professor
Johnson gave us 26. It was in History and quite hard to remember.
He heard what we prepared, omitted what we did not prepare, and

A Sophomore 37

then gave us a new recitation. He managed quite well indeed.
Found my piece on " Moral Education " in the Philadelphia Christian
Advocate.

24. — Attended for the last time Dr. Peck's prayer meeting.

28. — Recited, or rather attended recitation, for the last time for a
good while — perhaps forever. Felt peculiar emotions. Went to the
creek in company with some friends. Fell into a discussion on
"Predestination" with my friend Hepburn. Neither changed the
other's opinion.

29. — Heard of the death of Henry Clay. No human tongue can
utter half the praise that's due him, nor can the wisest philosopher
tell the good that he has wrought for his country. May he rest in
peace ! Surely his name will be ever remembered by every patriot,
and more particularly by every American.

July 1. — Arose before four and commenced to study history — quite
a bore. The long-dreaded examinations commenced also. Made a
nine in Paley. The Doctor complimented us highly. Made an eight
in Greek, nine in Manual, nine in Trigonometry, six in Conies.
Succeeded tolerably on the whole.

2. — Studied history in the morning. Made a nine in Latin, also in
long-dreaded history. One thing off hand, another in view. Com-
mencement. Played football all afternoon.

3. — Took a walk out to Papertown, about six miles from town;
ascended the mountain and took dinner there; was accompanied by
two friends.

4- — Very good Commencement; was wearied out with literary
orations, however.

5. — Weather warm in Baltimore. Walked almost all day.

II. — Heard Rev. Mr. Coombe preach, a graduate of Dickinson. He
didn't please the aristocratic Charles Streeters much.

The Collegian in Print. — A Moral Victory

During his Sophomore year he occupied room 20 in East
College with S. T. Milbourne, a Freshman, from Worcester
County, Maryland. The class numbered twenty-seven this year.

3<8 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

While a Sophomore he made his first contribution to the press.
It was a brief article, written January 16, 1852, published in
the Sunday School Advocate, and breathes the practical, helpful
spirit of the long series of which it proved to be the leader. As
a promise and an example of the directness and simplicity of
this kind of composition the entire article is here given :

Comfort the Distressed

Many of my young friends have often met with the above ad-
monition, but perhaps some of them have never complied with its
requirements. The modes which may be employed in the fulfillment
of it are as numerous as are the dispositions of men. I once knew a
Sunday school scholar who accompanied a gentleman to the humble
and weather-beaten hut of an old blind man. Besides his blindness
the old colored man was afflicted with rheumatism. The two visitors
found him at the door, leaning on his staff. He addressed them, and
told them he was trying to serve the Lord, and anticipated a home
among the happy hereafter. During their visit they read several
chapters in his hearing and had prayers together. In this manner
they passed the evening, and the two visitors returned home, sensible
that the smile of God's countenance was resting upon them. I think
the afflicted man has since died ; if so, I have no doubt that his soul
now rests in Abraham's bosom. Sunday school scholars might do
much toward comforting the distressed, and thus be a benefit to
others as well as to themselves.

In the following April, over the name "Chamfort," he penned
an earnest and argumentative plea for "The Proposed New
Methodist Episcopal Church in Carlisle" for the Philadelphia
Christian Advocate, in reply to an article by a classmate, W. H.
Luckenbach, opposing a resolution of the Philadelphia Con-
ference, which expressed sympathy and recommended help for
the building and endowing of a second church in Carlisle. The
professors and students who favored the new movement had
been charged with aristocracy, and this is the way he comes to
their defense:

This College is proverbial for its freedom from any kind of aris-
tocracy. Though there may be isolated instances of it, yet they are

Contributor to the Press 39

by no means "generated" here, but have come from abroad. Even
then they receive no encouragement, but soon find it far preferable
to flee to more congenial places, where they may exhale their
pestilential air.

On June 8 we find him, under the nom-de-plitme of "XN,"
giving to the same paper a didactic article entitled "Moral
Education," the burden of which is an argument for the con-
temporaneous culture or training of both the heart and mind
of children, and for the early action of the religious impulse in
its bearing on a symmetrical growth. About the same time,
and again as "Chamfort," he furnished the Cambridge Demo-
crat an appreciative article on "The Pleasures of Education."
His summary of the life of an educated person thus groups the
career :

In youth he strove for an education, in middle age he practiced it
and imparted it more or less to others, and in old age he reaped the
fruits of it. First he went in search of treasure, next he obtained it
and bestowed it on the world, and lastly he enjoys the good resulting
from it.

During his Junior year, 1852-53, there appeared several
articles in the Easton (Md.) Whig, from his hand, under the
name of "Philip Philistone." One of these was a description
of a foot-journey with two other students, D. H. Walton, of
Woodstock, Virginia, and Robert H. Conway, of Harrison,
Maryland, taken at the close of the summer term in 1852, to
the mountain near Carlisle. It is called "A Leaf from a
Student's Journal." It contains several fine interweavings
of history with natural scenery, and the personal thread runs
pleasantly through the whole sketch. His description of
their noontide luncheon on the summit is in these words:

There was little of the artificial attending our repast; the roof
beneath which we were seated was none less than the broad canopy
of heaven, our table was the ground, its cover the leaves, and our
hands filled the office of knives and forks.

40 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

Of the Cumberland Valley that here burst on their vision
he says :

If Thomas Jefferson thought a look at Harper's Ferry was worth a
voyage across the Atlantic, we think such a sight as this would repay
one for walking up many peaks of the Blue Ridge.

Another was entitled "Friendship at College," setting forth
the danger of too sudden intimacy with imagined friends, and
the value of a true friendship based on worth and similarity of
aim and tastes. Next follow three historical and descriptive
articles under the general title of "Ancient Magnificence: Its
Rise, Grandeur, and Decay," the first devoted to Alexandria,
the second to Memphis, and the third to Thebes in Egypt.
In a brief introductory paragraph he says :

It is our purpose to treat the religion, society, and politics of them
(the great cities) ; to show wherein their civil politics were sound
or defective; to trace back the improvement or deterioration which
they underwent to the prime cause; to apply their institutions to
those of our own country, and to prove with all possible clearness
the hand of God displayed in history.

John's moral susceptibility was seriously put to the test when
at the age of eighteen, while on a vacation from college, he re-
ceived an invitation to attend a party at the home of one of the
first citizens of Dorchester County. It was a rare distinction
to be invited to the family which had furnished a senator and a
governor. John's imagination lighted up as he pictured the
beauty, fashion, and wealth he would see there. Such a privi-
lege had never before been his, but the day of the event saw him
hesitating, and as night came on there was a struggle. "Well,
John, I envy you your good time to-night," said his cousin.
"Shake hands, Sammy," was John's reply, "I've been praying
about this matter. I'm not going to the party. I cannot go to
a place where they dance and drink wine."

A Student on the Farm 41

An Interim at Home

The greater part of his Junior year he spent at "Weir Neck,"
studying the books of the curriculum and keeping abreast of his
class, whose roll now included twenty-four.

"Weir Neck," September 10, 1852. — Have been to five camp meet-
ings. Met with a number of students from old Dickinson; was
delighted, of course, with meeting old and true friends. Enjoyed my
sister's company very much. Visited my stepmother, who had been
married (to Mr. Goslin) since my departure from the Eastern Shore.
Was treated kindly and consequently enjoyed myself very much.
Am sorry to say that my religious experience is not so favorable as
I would like it to be. Did not take advantage of the means of grace
afforded at camp meeting as I should have done. At one time my
soul was made to rejoice with joy unspeakable. Am settled down
on the old homestead, boarding with the tenant. Commenced Logic
(Whately). Find it hard though not unpleasant study.

21. — Studied some of Agricola and Germania of Tacitus. He is
quite concise. Studied some Analytical Geometry, Moral Science
also. Am pleased with living in the country; eat so much, however,
that I will soon become corpulent. In regard to religion, I have en-
joyed myself very much. Have not yet joined a class, as I have not
yet received my certificate. Have hunted some and been partially
successful. Made considerable progress in Hebrew. Am now on the
inflection of pronouns. Yesterday I finished my "Leaf from a
Student's Journal." Fixed up a bookcase for myself in the recess
of the room. Am now prepared for studying. Wrote the "Introduc-
tory" to my intended articles on the "Rise, Grandeur, and Decay of
Ancient Magnificence," but am not satisfied with it. Shall perhaps
write another.

October 1. — Have paid a visit to my stepmother at Federalsburg.
Studied Mental Philosophy, Moral Science, and Tacitus. Borrowed
the Alcestis of Euripides in Greek and have read the Hypothesis.
Quite difficult at first. Have written another introduction to my
"Rise, Grandeur, and Decay of Ancient Magnificence." Am better
pleased with it. Commenced the series with Alexandria. . . . Com-
menced wearing standing collars. Saw my friend Conway at Fed-
eralsburg. Went gunning with him. He and myself were requested
to act as bearers of a young man who had died of consumption. We

42 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

fulfilled the onerous task. I formed an idea of going to the West,
after graduating, and entering some literary institution, if prac-
ticable. Perhaps I'll enter the ministry. May the Lord direct me in
the proper way. I intend praying particularly for direction in re-
gard to my future course. I have enjoyed myself in a religious point
of view very much. Have perhaps made use of too much levity.
May the Lord guide me between levity on the one hand and
moroseness on the other !

21. — Went to Federalsburg, and there had a severe attack of bilious
fever. Symptoms of the dropsy appeared which quite alarmed me.
I prayed that I might be fully resigned to the will of the Lord.

November 5. — Daniel Webster is dead. The nation mourns her
pride. Franklin Pierce (the ignotus) is elected President. Finished
Paley's Evidences and am nearly equal with my class as regards
studies. Commenced No. 2 of my "Student's Journal." It is on
college life. The "Mechanics" of Natural Philosophy is very hard.
I have a fine chance for study. Take considerable exercise. Am
enjoying the smiles of God's countenance in a marked degree. May
my life be shaped according to his will ! I am aware that I am not
sufficiently grateful to him for all his favors, but will try to be more
so. May he bless me is my humble prayer.

12. — Have been at home of late and have studied amazingly hard
sometimes, while at others I have been too lax. Hunted considerably.
Studied Natural Philosophy very hard, also Analytical Geometry.
Never liked mathematics much before I studied the "Mechanics."
Have read some in Macaulay's England; am delighted with his
style. Commenced Stevens's Travels in Egypt, Arabia Petrasa, and
Holy Land. His style is very interesting. My religious feelings
have been buoyant; am possessed of a pleasing hope of a blessed
immortality beyond the grave. My health has been good.

December 24. — My friend Conway has gone West. He, however,
spent a few days with me before he left and we had a fine oppor-
tunity to recall past experiences and also to relate future hopes. We
prayed together, and earnestly asked kind Providence to guide us in
the right path through future life. I felt quite lonely when he left
me at the wharf. I have since received a six-page letter from him
since he arrived at Madison, Indiana. It was like balm to my soul.
The blues dealt a heavy blow to me recently. I never had the
horrors much worse. In a word, I was homesick. But how can I,
an orphan, who have no home, be homesick? The following will
explain it:

" 'Tis home where'er the heart is."

Again at Carlisle 43

Have nearly kept pace with my class. Think something ot proposing
to Uncle John to consent to my going to Dickinson again in April.
"Man is a social being" and I am lonely. Have had a swelling of
the ankles. The doctor considered it a dropsical affection. Have
nearly recovered from it by taking medicine.

February 17, 1853. — I expect, if no unforeseen circumstances hap-
pen, to go to Dickinson in March. I wrote to my uncle to give his
consent to my returning to Dickinson College in April.

XI
A Junior at Carlisle

Dickinson College, Carlisle, Penna., May 3, 1853.— Neglect seems
to be the leading trait of my character, and procrastination the
thief of much of my time. After so long a silence, I can scarcely
muster the face or heart to make an entry in my dear old Journal.
But my thoughts assume a graver nature when I reflect that on this
day twelve years ago I lost my mother. What a thought ! I was
made motherless twelve years ago, and am yet spared to behold the
beauties of God's creation and enjoy my probationary life here if
proper means are employed. A mother, what a treasure ! True is
the phrase, "No one knows the need of a mother until he is deprived
of her." Although her smiles and tears have never been for me to
see, yet a hope of seeing her in a better world constitutes a great
enjoyment. May her guardian spirit watch over me and keep me
from harm ! Twelve years to come I may be numbered with the
dead. If such be the case, may I be numbered among those who die
in the Lord! May a mother unseen administer kind advice to her
orphan girl and boy !

Have published two articles in the Easton Whig on "Ancient
Magnificence." They were written on the cities Alexandria and
Memphis. Have sent on another article under the head of Thebes.
I design to continue them through Carthage, Nineveh, Babylon,
Thebes in Bceotia, Sparta, Athens, and Rome. Can't tell whether or
not I shall ever get through with them, for it is rather borons. Have
succeeded very well in my studies. Laziness, however, has worked
very hard on me as well as a good appetite.

I have spent the most of three weeks (during smallpox scare) in a

44 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

not very useful manner. Among other reading, I have read The
Scarlet Letter and Blithedale Romance by Hawthorne.1 Think they
are rather dry and misanthropic. They left my mind in rather a
gloomy state. Don't expect to read any more of Hawthorne's novels
until I am out of better reading, which will take a long time. I have
also read the first volume of Gibbon's History and a portion of the
second. Don't know what to think of his two celebrated chapters
derogatory to the Christian religion. It is strange to say that men
of genius, and particularly historians, often condescend to insert
some of their own petty notions which form adjuncts to their private
animosities. Just so Gibbon appears to have acted. I have read
Ivanhoe, by Walter Scott. The only thing I regretted, when I fin-
ished it, was that there was not more of it. It ended abruptly.
Shaw's English Literature fell in amongst other reading, and thus I
have spent my three weeks. Maybe they have been well enough
employed.

June 4. — Looked at Tom Paine's Age of Reason, and I think him
not only not a very good Bible reasoner, but also occasionally profane.

13. — Have been elected speaker of the U. P. S. to address the
Senior Unions at their departure. Finished second volume of Gib-
bon's Rome, and commenced in "Crusades" the Talisman of Scott.
Read it because Shaw praises it so highly for containing so much
knowledge in reference to chivalry.

July 25. — Commencement like Christmas has come and gone. There
have been lots — yea, Holds — of speechifying. What contributed most
to my enjoyment was the presence of some of my Baltimore relatives
and friends. My sister Sallie was along. Surely I was glad to see
her, but she did not stay long enough to allow me a fair look at her.
The time came for her to leave and, O, my heart could scarcely con-
tain itself when the cars took her off perforce. But so it is, and if
I am ever to be a man, and be indued with manly feelings, it is when
I become a Senior. . . . My standing was very good, the second
section. There were four sections besides the honor man. Don't
you congratulate me, old Journal ? for you are proof positive that I
have had a vacation of nine months and have studied these text-
books scarcely any. Indeed, I am feeling perfectly satisfied though

I did not care much about standing alongside of B . Well, well,

I reckon I can study the harder next year. Finished Goldsmith this
morning. Irving is a master hand and master mind, let him under-
take and complete whatever he will. What a character was Gold-

1 Late in his life he owned for several years the original manuscript of the Blithedale
Romance.

EAST COLLEGE, DICKINSON.

The middle window of the three shown in the third story is room No. 40, occupied
by John Fletcher Hurst during his senior year.

A Senior's Journal 45

smith ! and what a genius withal ! Pity for him that he was attended
with what many suppose is the invariable characteristic of genius —
recklessness. He proved an illustration of the rule:

"Slow rises worth by poverty oppressed."

XII
A Senior's Journal

September 3, 1853. — August past, and you, O Journal, neglected!
Indeed, I should have paid some little tribute to the memory of my
dear father who died on the fourth of that month and of a little
sister who also died on the eighteenth. Though nothing has been
said, yet much has been felt. O may I strive to obey my father's
precepts ! Surely no one needs wholesome advice more and receives
less of it. The seventeenth of August forms a very important epoch
in my history. It was the anniversary of my birthday. I know not
whether a long or short life is before me, but the chances (if chances
there be) and my own imprudence indicate the latter. I intend upon
the coming year of my life to live nearer to my heavenly Master,
and more alive to my own eternal interests and to my true interests
in this world than ever before. May Heaven help me !

I have written a letter to my uncle requesting some money. How
could I forget that thought? But the severest stroke yet is, I have
not received it, and need not inform you, kind Journal, that the
reception is looked forward to with anxious expectation. Have
finished the fifth volume of Gibbon's History. O how enchanting a
writer Gibbon is, and how seductive! From this seduction men or
united Christianity have most to fear. Have also read Lord's Modern
History. It is a fine thing — though, to use a borrowed expression, I
hate General Histories. But all history is so interesting to me that
any is better than none. I cannot say that I have made much progress
in the cause of religion. Indeed, I need something of a stirring up.
Absence from prayer meetings is a great detriment to Christian
progress.

My chum (Paul Lightner, a Junior, from Highland County, Vir-
ginia) has come on and we are fixed up in number 40, East College,
for my last year in college. I have given away too much to my own
appetite of late. Ice cream is on the carpet almost every night, and

46 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

the way I have dived into the peaches, apples, grapes, and cigars.

0 shade of Bacchus, appear. Did I say cigars? Yes, it is true. I
had laid aside smoking for nearly a month, having come to the just
conclusion that it was an unnecessary evil and consequently could
be dispensed with with right good grace. But yesterday I gave way
to the desire and smoked three cigars and two to-day. I have come
to the conclusion to quit smoking entirely.

Have commenced my first senior speech. The subject, I think,
will be "The Tendencies of Enthusiasm." It will be considered
mainly in an historical point of view. I have a wide field if I don't
spoil the thing by too far-fetched allusions.

October 29. — My chapel speech, after a great deal of severe boring
and toiling over it and in it, was not unfavorably received, although

1 was badly frightened. My next subject will be, if nothing to the
contrary happens, on "Spain." Of course, this is an historical sub-
ject, but such a theme always suits me best. I have written, but not
corrected it. What bores these chapel speeches are ! . . . Though I
had been subject to doubts and mental depressions for a long time,
yet I must thank my Father that these doubts have been removed and
those depressions converted into real enjoyment. Have been per-
plexed lately as to what I shall engage in hereafter, but have come
to no definite conclusion in that respect. I must rely solely upon
kind Providence to direct me in the true course most suited to my
abilities and circumstances. Have had excellent health of late.

December 5. — Have been exceedingly perplexed of late as to what I
shall hereafter devote myself to, but have resigned into the hands of
an All-wise Director and Protector, and have prayed that the ful-
fillment of his will may be my greatest desire. I have made another
chapel speech. My subject was "Spain." It was quite a long one,
and my friends have been perfectly satisfied by my effort. I took
less trouble with it than with my other one, but, although I was
sick, I spoke it more at ease and with greater satisfaction to myself.

On December 2 and 3, 1797 and 1808, my father and mother were
born, and they have passed away, but are not forgotten. May their
advice be ever ready to lead me in the right way though their voices
have been long silent. My religious experience has been generally
even, and I have not lately had any especial outpouring of God's
Spirit upon me. I am not zealous enough for the cause of my Re-
deemer, but will be more attentive to my eternal interests in the
future. . . . My expenses have surpassed those of any other year
at college. I have bought so many new clothes. The girls do
exercise a silent though visible influence in this respect.

A Senior's Journal 47

29. — Examinations are over, the last except the "final" that I shall
ever have to pass in old Mother Dickinson. The success I met with
far outwent my brightest anticipations. Have commenced reading
Rollin's History, and am much pleased with it. Read The Deerslayer,
one of Cooper's novels. It gives a very good idea of Indian life and
warfare, but could have been compressed in half the space, according
to my notion.

March 13, 1854. — I have received an especial honor from Society,
which I may be at liberty to pen next Commencement. I feel incom-
petent to the task, but may Heaven assist me with pure motives and
earnest efforts. ... I do not have enough of heart-religion nor
exercise enough of God's saving faith. O my God, assist me to live
up to my purposes and to my desires, and my life will be a Christian's
life, and my death a Christian's death. My last chapel speech was
upon William, Prince of Orange, and my friends have judged it to
be my happiest effort. I have read but little of late. Prescott's
Conquest of Peru, I think, is about the extent. . . . Have come to
no definite conclusion as to what my future course in life will be.
May Heaven lay before me some path in which duty would urge me
to travel !

April 17. — As we had a short vacation in the latter part of March,
Uncle John wrote me to come down and spend a week with him and
his family. This I did. I spent the greater portion of my time in
the city, though I really do not like Baltimore. Uncle John was
quite clever, and did not censure my extravagance any, although I
really deserved it. Students are profligate animals. My week in
Baltimore passed off quite pleasantly, considering it altogether. O
for the day when I shall have a home ! I really sympathize with
sister Sallie. She does not like Baltimore, and her Baltimore friends
all wish her there. She much prefers the Eastern Shore and enjoys
herself more there. May the day soon come when we shall have a
home together ! . . . Have sketched off a chapel speech. Theme is
" Music." Emory says it is as good as any I have spoken. I am
reading Gaieties and Gravities, by Horace Smith. It is fine to read
when one is in a bad humor. It makes him feel so good-natured. I
would like to read it whenever I get in an ill humor. Have written
Dr. Peck to procure me a situation in some academy after I graduate.
I have tried to do my duty of late. Felt some promptings toward the
ministry. Mr. Ridgaway (whom I attended upon in a spell of sick-
ness in Baltimore) gave me some good advice. I am too light in
my disposition. O God, assist me to do thy whole will ; may I not
swerve from my duty !

48 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

18. — My rising hour is 7 o'clock (shameful). Commenced the
Lamplighter this morning; was very much pleased with the tone;
the sentiment suits one of my temperament ; with God's assistance,
I'll never get mad any more. Horace Smith has been amusing me
again to-day.

May 15. — Have concluded to teach school after I graduate. Peirce,
of Washington, wrote to me to come and teach school, the "Metro-
politan Collegiate Institute," at a salary of $250 a year and board.
Wrote to him I would go for $300 — thought that was better than a
flat refusal. . . . Have had some serious thoughts with reference
to the ministry, but not enough to act upon — think it would be better
to teach a year or two to determine upon it. Spoke my chapel speech
on "Music." My friends thought it was decidedly my best effort
this year.

June 23. — Final examination is over and I am near graduating.
What a thought ! Can it be that I have been four years a student ?
Yes, and about to graduate. Well, truly, the biggest fools can grad-
uate nowadays; though they are sheepish sometimes, I don't think
the classic sheepskin is a suitable cover for their ignorance. I suc-
ceeded tolerably well in my final examination with the single excep-
tion of mathematics. I came near failing, but was well satisfied with
my other examinations. Have received a letter from Uncle John.
It was nearer a lecture than a letter upon the subject of my extrava-
gance. But Seniors do require money, especially when they sport
among the girls.

His theme on Commencement Day, July 13, 1854, was
"Modern Hero Worship." Not quite twenty, he was a grad-
uate and now faced the future with all its weighty issues.

XIII

Memory Cameos by Fellow Students

Dr. Robert W. Todd, of the Wilmington Conference, says :

"Johnnie" was of moderate stature and probably the youngest
student in the college proper. Being both Eastern Shoremen and
from adjoining counties, a warm and sympathetic friendship sprang

Memories by Fellow Students 49

up between us, which ever continued. No new companionships or
higher honors that became his seemed to dim his remembrance of
our halcyon past as happy schoolboys, or to weaken the expression
of his personal friendship.

Thomas C. Bailey, an attorney-at-law, of Washington, D. C,

a classmate at Carlisle, writes :

In manner he was gentle and quiet, with a certain reserved dignity.
As a student, he was industrious, and always came to the recitation
rooms with his lessons well prepared. In disposition he was cheerful,
but not hilarious, and while he appreciated fun I never knew him to
be engaged in any proceedings that transgressed the rules of the
college.

-&v

Dr. D. J. Holmes, of the Rock River Conference, who was

a classmate during the Freshman year, says :

I remember him well. John was a dapper little chap, always
dressy and dignified. Being the youngest in the class and the shortest,
his dignity in spite of his youth and brevity did make him look taller
and more mature. He was in college for work, not for fun, so that
in all the periodical or unexpected volcanic upheavals I do not recall
that John F. Hurst troubled himself or took part, or was present or
absent. The same devotion to study and books and literature he had
then he carried into the world and down to his grave. He was not a
class genius, or poet, or orator, or wire-puller, but a steady plodder.

General James F. Rusling, of Trenton, New Jersey, a warm

friend as well as loved classmate, gives this sketch :

I first knew Bishop Hurst at Dickinson College in October, 1852.
He was then a flaxen-haired boy from Maryland, intending to be a
lawyer, and indeed read Blackstone in his Senior year; but after
graduating turned his attention to the ministry. He looked younger
than he was. He was studious, but not a recluse — always cheerful
and companionable. Our class at graduation comprised twenty men,
and he stood well in the First Section (we had four). We all
thought he could have been our First Honor man, but apparently he
did not care for that distinction. In Mathematics he was good; in
the Sciences excellent ; but in the Languages especially strong, and
always ready to help our "lame ducks" out, without resorting to
"ponies."
5

50 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

In addition to onr curriculum, he was always reading and became
more widely read in history, biography, and general literature than
any man of our class. I remember his favorite authors were Grote's
Greece and Hume's England, and he never wearied of descanting on
the excellencies of both. He was especially fond of composition,
took Grote, Hume, and Macaulay as his models, and by all odds
was the best writer of our class in those college days. As a speaker,
however, he was indifferent, and dreaded the college platform. His
voice was not good ; of personal magnetism he had not a bit. He
was industrious, patient, methodical, persevering, and I always
thought he would " make a spoon or spoil a horn," as Lincoln used
to say, though we never supposed he would become an "Episcopos"
in those days.

His Christian character was clear and distinct, though never ob-
trusive; but we always knew where to find "Johnnie Hurst," and he
was always on the right side. He got into no "college scrapes." He
was a quiet scholar and steadfast Christian gentleman, and no man
of '54 was more honored and respected. He especially held the es-
teem and confidence of the Faculty, and good things, if not great,
were predicted of him by everybody. He was the soul of honor.
He was the synonym of uprightness and integrity. Everybody envied
him his quiet dignity and sinless life and character.

John Peach, M.D., of Mitchellville, Maryland, a classmate,
says :

He was of a mild and gentle disposition — a warm friend; at the
same time he was somewhat choice in his selection of associates.
There was about him a spirit of perseverance, even in little things.
He was an excellent companion, and, although he could freely descend
to the level of college nonsense and hilarity, yet his tone of thought
was elevating and improving to all who intimately knew him. He
was not much given to the fair sex, but in the last year of our course
he, with the rest of us, became very attentive to the ladies.

Professor Charles F. Himes, of Dickinson, a member of '55,
furnishes the following- appreciative account :

He never engaged in anything that he avoided acknowledgment of
in his maturer years. I simply recall an incident in illustration. At
a rather small and select meeting of alumni of the college, in Phila-
delphia, in the full freedom of conversation on college days, when
each contributed his share to the common stock of incident, the

Cannon Ball and Football 51

"Rolling of the cannon ball along West College Hall," as given in
the old college song, which for many years was an unfailing diversion
of the students, naturally came up. The bishop recalled the heating
of the ball on one occasion and the way in which the professor, alert
to capture it, had dropped it. Professor O. H. Tiffany, whose office,
as professor of Mathematics, was beneath, was quick to take the
application and pleasantly denied the fact, characterizing the story a
piece of college fiction, and retorting that he always knew that Hurst
took part in those performances. Bishop Hurst, sitting by me,
quietly remarked that it was a fact, nevertheless, and that he did not
happen to have anything to do with it at that time. The apparent
discrepancy in statement is easily explained by the fact that the ball
was so slightly heated that it had had ample time to cool to the
innocuous stage before the professor laid hands on it and that the
effect was imagined. At all events, the joke was in the suggestion
to the professor, rather than in burned hands.

Football was in its fullest sense football, and a college game. It
was a line-up along the broad path leading from Old West, of all
students who wished to engage in the game, in two well-selected,
evenly matched parties, and from the kick-off to the passage of the
ball over either of the fences, constituting the goals, it was kicked,
never carried, and in the scrimmages many shins were kicked. The
line-up was different each game, so that while some were recognized
as most expert players, there were no match games to be recorded
or even remembered. It was all sport and genuine sport. I re-
member consequently little about John Fletcher Hurst as a football
player. He may have kept on the outer rim of the conflict seizing
his opportunity as it presented itself, or he may have ventured into
the thick of the melee, but that you may picture him as participating
in such sport I have no doubt. There were champion kickers. One.
who kicked the ball over West College, died as the result of the
effort.

52 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

XIV
The Teacher

At Greensboro, Maryland, and in the Catskills. — "The Mystic Nine." — A

"White Horse" Incident

The experiences of the young graduate, standing on the
threshold of his entrance upon life's calling and still hesitant
as to what path he should pursue, are tersely told by himself
in an entry at the close of his college Journal, made in Ashland,
New York, June 5, 1855:

It cannot be that a year has passed since I last gave my thoughts
and my experiences to a faithful old Journal ! I have graduated ;
my exhibition speech was complimented highly. The day before
Commencement I was compelled, according to engagement, to meet
a man in Harrisburg with every prospect of being engaged to teach
for him in Lewistown, Pennsylvania. He disappointed me. After
Commencement I was at a great loss what to do ; walked the streets
of Baltimore ready at any moment to step upon the first boat or train
of cars and leave for — anywhere. I wished, I fancied I wished, to
study law; applied to one prominent member of Baltimore Bar; he
couldn't take me, had one young man already. Had it not been for
this I might have been a student at law now. I shrank from it, and
am glad I did.

Mrs. Angelina Goldsborough, of Greensboro, Maryland, an
own cousin of Bishop Hurst's mother, tells of the beginning of
his career as a teacher :

In 1854, John F. Hurst, then at his home near Cambridge (Weir
Neck), wrote me a letter, asking if I could secure for him a school,
as he was anxious to put into practice something that he had learned,
while deciding what profession or calling in life he might hereafter
choose. My late husband, Dr. G. W. Goldsborough, became inter-
ested and at once placed his name before the trustees of the public
school, and he was given the position of teacher. Mr. Hurst was in

Among the Catskills 53

Greensboro several months. While he did not board with us, he was
as one of the family, coming in every day.

His Journal of same elate as the passage above continues :

Was appointed teacher in Greensboro Academy, Maryland.
Stayed there about two months — didn't like it, and through influence
of Dr. Collins, President of Dickinson College, was appointed Pro-
fessor of Belles-Lettres at Ashland, at $300 and board. Came in
November, 1854. Have been here since. Teaching pleasant in some
respects. Fond of languages and would rather have that department.
Had a most severe spell of sickness during the winter. It was a cold.
I feel it yet, and Heaven only knows whether or not I shall always
feel it until I get where there is no disease.

The Hedding Literary Institute, at Ashland, Greene County,
New York, ran a brief though brilliant career of about six
years, in its mountain home among the Catskills. Of his jour-
ney thither, of the incidents which marked the opening days
of his work there, and especially of his first meeting with the
young lady who won his heart, let his letter of November 16,
1854, to his sister speak :

I arrived in New York in time to take the Hudson River cars, and
arrived at Oak Hill, which is opposite Catskill, about 1 o'clock. The
next morning, which was Wednesday, I started for Ashland. It
was about 5 o'clock a. m. when the coach started, and it reached
here between 3 and 4 p. m. So you see, Miss Sallie — pardon me, for
it is Mrs. Kurtz — we have had a very tedious time of it while cross-
ing these Catskills. I arrived at the very best time and consider
myself fortunate in getting the room which I have obtained. The
teachers have their own rooms, but still there is a choice among
them and I would prefer this one to all others. But I am going too
fast. When I first arrived at the Seminary I introduced myself to
one of the trustees and by that means soon found the principal and
was introduced. Instead of meeting a grave and too stern a dis-
ciplinarian, I was met with a pleasant countenance, a hearty shake
o' the hand, and a "very glad to see you." Since then I have re-
ceived every attention that I could desire even if in a father's house.
Mr. Pearson introduced me at once to the female teachers and his
very pleasant lady. One of the teachers was quite young and
charmingly beautiful, and, if I had not already lost my heart, I

5-| John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

should surely have done so on this occasion. She has a melancholy
caste of countenance and is of a fine form. I had been wishing that
she and I would have rooms on the same floor, so that 1 might take
private lessons in painting or whatever she teaches, until the after-
noon, when she commenced having her room prepared for her on
the very corner opposite mine. I am just fixed in that respect. You
will think all this foolishness and I shall too when I marry up out of
this troublesome world. Now let me tell you something of the
scholars. The gentlemen, as they are to be styled, are generally
large and full-grown, and no one, unacquainted with either party,
would be able to distinguish the corporals from the privates. Gen-
erally speaking, they are older in appearance than the students in
Dickinson College. I have not taught as yet, but everyone is so
kind that I cannot but be pleased. We have some very pretty girls,
and I don't doubt for a moment that a plenty of them are of your
size and age. I think we have already between two and three hun-
dred students, male and female. The Institute was opened this
afternoon by Rev. T. W. Pearson, father of the principal. His ad-
dress was fine. The very large chapel was filled to overflowing with
an intelligent and interesting audience.

The rooms for the teachers are furnished by the Institute. I have
two, one a dormitory, the other my study. I could not be better
situated. But, Sallie, I am all the while thinking of those I left in
Baltimore. I am sure I was never half so reluctant to leave my
nearest and dearest friends. If the fountain of my tears had not
long ago dried up I would sit right down and cry for you all.

Besides his daily duties of teaching logic, rhetoric, English
composition, and whatever else was included under the name
of Belles-Lettres, which by some stern necessity was stretched
to cover the class in chemistry, he gave occasional lectures in
the chapel — a part on Sunday afternoons and some on other
occasions. "God Will Provide" was the subject of the first one
he gave, December 3, 1854. Later topics were "Kingdom in
Heaven Not Like Kingdom on Earth,"' "Never Complain,"
"Reading," "Talking," and "Idolatry," with each of which he
connected a Scripture passage. He gave also two very inter-
esting talks on "Greek Mvthology." one on "Mahomet." and
one on "Great Men vs. True Wisdom." In his second lecture

Ashland Collegiate Institute 55

on Greek mythology he introduces a bit of local meteorology,
as the sweet revenge of a Marylander on the biting breezes of
Ashland :

vEolus lived in the modern Island of Stromboli in the Mediterra-
nean Sea. Since those days Mollis has removed his residence and
emigrated to the Catskill Mountains. Not being able to find a cave
in that part of the country large enough for a palace, he concluded to
let the winds run loose, and the consequence is that the natives are
incessantly troubled with a storm.

John Burroughs, the poet and naturalist, then a student at
Ashland, says :

I have a remembrance of him as a young, slender, large-eyed,
scholarly-looking man who taught me logic and grammar.

There were about two hundred students in the school during
the winter of 1855-56. Board with furnished room, washing,
and fuel, cost $1.75 per week, and tuition in Latin, Greek, and
Hebrew, including common and higher English, was $6 per
term of eleven weeks. To gentlemen seeking admission the
suggestion was made in print that for greater quiet they bring
slippers. The main school building, 200x36 feet on the
ground, was five stories high above the basement, with a chapel
in the rear. The two vacations of the year were in April and
October, of four weeks each. Its name was changed in 1857
to Ashland Collegiate Institute. While the school was in
session a fire broke out in the attic, about dinner time, January
15, 1861. The main building was destroyed. The building
used for a laundry and bakehouse was not burned, and is still
standing and used as a dwelling, while the gymnasium and car-
riage house now serve for a barn. The origin of the fire was a
mystery. The location was on an elevation on the north side
of the village. Rev. Henry J. Fox was the last principal of the
school.

56 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

Mr. Franklin A. Wilcox, of New York, who was a student
at Ashland, furnishes the following items of interest :

John F. Hurst, although youngest of the faculty, was, in point of
ability and thorough preparation for his duties, foremost. There
was a charm in his personality which drew everyone to him. He
reminded me somewhat of Sir Walter Scott in his physical appear-
ance. He was most thorough, and I remember well his rigid cor-
rections of my Latin exercises. I believe he took an especial interest
in me, and coached me not a little in his private room, where I was
glad to go on the least excuse. He was modest, almost diffident. I
recall very well the apparent difficulty he had in leading the devo-
tional exercises in the chapel, as was the custom, by rotation. His
prayer consisted of little more than the Lord's Prayer, and this with
a little "stage fright." This very characteristic, possibly, was the
source of his great strength as his abilities matured.

I was also in his class in logic. I recall very well the text-book,
Whately's. It was dry as dust; the teacher succeeded, however, in
interesting his class, although we recited about daylight and before
breakfast wras served at the Institute.

He encouraged the students in the literary societies, and took a
great interest in this all-important work. A second literary society
was formed, projected and planned largely by Mr. Hurst, with a
very select membership, which he named "The Mystic Nine." The
President, Professor Hurst, was the Pater Novrm, and the Secretary
was the Gcheimschrcibcr. The membership was limited to nine.
The Mystic Nine was a success from the commencement. We met
and debated, wrote, declaimed, and read or acted plays from Shakes-
peare whenever there was opportunity, in the chapel or elsewhere in
surrounding localities. Richard III was one of these plays. One
of the teachers, "Professor" Gilbert (teachers were all called Pro-
fessors), recited "Clarence's Dream." The effort "brought down the
house" ; and the Mystics were much elated. The old society was
greatly in the shade. Professor Hurst was the prompter and "the
man behind the scenes," and most of the credit for the success was
due to him.

At the Exhibition given by the Mystic Nine, March 20,
1856, he delivered an address on ''Why Americans Love
Shakespeare," later published as a pamphlet at Catskill, and a
product of his muse, called "Farewell to Ashland," was sung

The " White Horse " 57

at the close of a very popular programme. Its three stanzas
and chorus contained these lines :

Ye snow-clad Catskill Mountains,

We bow our heads to you ;
Ye sparkling, gurgling fountains,

We've drunk our last from you;
Ye old familiar faces,

Endeared by many a smile,
We'll go to other places,

But think of you the while.
Departure has its sadness,

The future seems but blank,
Yet we will pluck with gladness

The flowers on Avon's bank.

Mrs. Sara C. Allaben, of Aiken, South Carolina, gives some
inside views of the institution :

His manners were those of a gentleman, quiet, dignified, with no
airs or assumption whatever. He never fretted or fumed during
class-time. In fact, his serene, dignified manner seemed to hold the
most mischievous youth in check. Upon request he would allow his
pupils to examine his class book. Perhaps he thought if they were
not doing well it would make them more ambitious.

One incident shows his especial kindness and good sense. I had
a corner room on the fourth floor, larger than the ordinary rooms.
When the evening nine o'clock bell rang, "our clan" of ten or a
dozen girls would assemble there for fun and frolic. One evening a
Miss Ostrander, by some miraculous method, transformed herself
into an object called a "Turkey Buzzard." She hopped about in the
most ridiculous manner, and we laughed till we were weary. "Well,"
I said, "the turkey buzzard makes us laugh, but I could get up some-
thing, if I chose, that would frighten you even if you saw it made,
and knew who was wearing it." The young ladies teased me for a
week after. At last I consented to prepare it if they would not
expect me to carry it about. It was that horrible-looking monster
called a "White Horse," to be held over a person's head by two
sticks, grinning and bowing at the onlookers in the most diabolical
manner. A young lady in my French class, who had more than any
other insisted on my making it, volunteered to wear it. She was so
successful in frightening the young ladies at whose rooms she

-s John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

knocked for admittance that she finally resolved to call on Miss
Palmer and Miss La Monte, two teachers who roomed on the third
floor. I tried to dissuade her, but go she would. Professor Hurst,
who was calling on the ladies, opened the door. He grasped the
specter, unmasking K.'s face. She screamed and he released her in-
stantly. He could not help recognizing her, and she lay abed for a
week feigning sickness to avert suspicion. Nothing came of it,
however, and I doubt if it was discussed in the Faculty meeting.

The merriment of a winter's frolic appealed to him, and he
wrote in memory of one a poem of eight jingling stanzas
which he called "The Sleighing Party." In these rhymes he
skillfully connects the overtaking of a company of young folks
by a heavy snowstorm while on an evening sleigh ride, their
slow progress, bewilderment, loss of the road, the sudden clear-
ing of the sky, the discovery of the road and their safe return,
with the legend told by Irving in the Sketch Book :

The Catskill Mountains were said to be ruled by an old squaw
spirit, said to be their mother. She dwelt on the highest peak and had
charge of the doors of day and night to open and shut them at the
proper hour. She hung up new moons in the sky and cut up the
old ones into stars.

Catherine E. La Monte 59

XV
The Lover

Catherine E. La Monte. — A Look Toward Germany. — Studying German at

Carlisle

The acquaintance of young ''Professor" Hurst with Miss
Catherine E. La Monte, the teacher of painting and other
branches of "Fine Arts," as we have seen, began most pleas-
ingly. It grew steadily into mutual admiration and esteem
and ripened into hearty friendship and genuine love. He
became her accepted lover in the spring of 1855. In his
Journal he records this event of heart history :

June 5, 1855. — Now, my good old Journal, I will introduce to you a
name with which you may in time become quite familiar — Miss La
Monte. Good Journal, take care of her, she will be doubly dear to
you when you and she get better acquainted. She is my betrothed.
I love her; she is beautiful, and has a heart. That is enough for
you, for vulgar eyes might get a glimpse of these lines upon your
forehead.

Soon after the engagement Miss La Monte began teaching
in a school at Liberty, Sullivan County, New York. From the
letters to his betrothed some selections will give essential links
in the chain of his rapidly developing life :

May 3. — Just fourteen years ago my mother died. O Kate, if such
a lovely woman, as my mother was, were only living now she would
love you as dearly as she would me.

16. — How many, many thoughts rose in my mind as if by magic
when you asked me if I had ever read Festus. Indeed I have. It
has beguiled many a swift hour of my time at college. I like it very
much and would point you to some favorite passages of mine if the
book in which I marked them had not fallen into the hands of one
of the most detestable pests of society — a book-borrozver.

26. — I have thought that there is too much of infidelity in woman's

6o John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

heart ; indeed, I have thought she was forgetful of those who loved
her; but I have judged her too harshly; you have redeemed your sex
in my estimation. 1 look back upon my past experience and through
the years that 1 have never loved, and they form a blank in my life.
I have never known before what real life was. I am sure it does
not consist in length of clays, in threescore and ten, but in the days
and years of love which the heart lives.

June 5. — If there were need of me here (Ashland) until the middle
of August I should perhaps stay, but I shall have to be in Maryland
then to settle with my uncle — I shall be of age at that time. I some-
times think I must spend next winter at the South — I mean farther
down than Maryland ; for my chest pains me at times and I must
guard against the worst. Don't you mind it, my dear Kate, I only
need warm weather. I don't think we shall continue longer than
the close of the quarter — at any rate, I will see you at that time, if I
live and am well.

I wrote a letter this week which will affect us both materially.
When I was in Baltimore I left my wish to have the farms belonging
to my sister and myself sold. My sister's husband. Dr. Kurtz, has
written to me to know if I am still of that opinion. I wrote him
"no," but that I wished one to be retained, the old homestead for me.
I meant for you and me. I will lose by not selling it, but matters
have changed, you know, since I was in Baltimore, and I have the
happiness of another to consult as well as my own.

16. — When I think of us and know howT much we love each
other, I feel perfectly happy. To know that there is one who can love
me in prosperity or adversity affords me more enjoyment than any-
thing except religion. I am happy beyond the common lot of mortals,
and I owe much of it to the kindness and feeling of your heart.
Whenever you tell me how much you think of me and how devoted
you are, I love you more and God more. We know not what changes
may come over us in life, but we do know, Kate, that we can weep
for each other's sorrows and smile with each other's joys. There
will be love and sympathy that will be as lasting as our lives, and I
believe as enduring as eternity. We can help each other to serve
God better, and we shall not be separated in death.

August 6. — Kate, how would you like to go to Germany next year ?
We can be married before we go. I will attend a German University
(Berlin in all probability) and will fully prepare myself to take a
good position in this country when we return. I have thought of it,
but can't tell certainly by any means; — or had you rather I would go
first and we be married when I return? In that event I should not

A Look Toward Germany 6i

remain more than a year, but I would rather we should go together.
If I don't go as soon as next year, it will be from some circumstances
that I do not now know. Perhaps I shall not go at all. It has been
my intention for several years, however.

14. — I am glad to hear you speak as you do of going with me to
Germany. As I remarked before, I intend to go before a great
while, but at what particular time I cannot now tell. We will talk it
all over together first.

17. — Dear Kate, wonders will never cease — I am going home at
the close of the term, but will return and spend the winter here. My
mind has never been so perplexed before, unless it were about this
time one year ago. I do not wish to go to a new place where I know
no one, and a physician who knows all about me thinks I would be
safe in remaining here if I attend to myself properly. I told Mr.
Pearson that if he would give me the Department of Languages,
raise my salary to $400 a year, and allow me to leave any time during
the winter that I might choose, provided he could supply my place
by a few weeks' notice, I would remain. He agreed to it, and I
shall make Ashland my home for the winter. I told him that this
bargain extended no farther than spring. He agreed.

Harrisburg, Pa., October 22. — Dr. McClintock has given me con-
siderable information with regard to German Universities. I some-
times think it is so hard that I cannot always be with my friends.
Arbogast says we shall be together again if I go to Germany next
year, for he will go with me.

Ashland, November 18. — I think it is a settled matter with me, if
my health last, to go to Germany. I have been making arrangements
to that effect and have concluded to go.

January 7, 1856. — I was very busy during the day (New Year's)
at German, and I determined to finish Wilhelm Tell — the best play of
the best German poet — before Sunday. I finished it on Saturday
night, and at reading it I was thrilled and delighted, perhaps more
than with any book in our own language. This gives me encourage-
ment, and I am able to some degree to satisfy my early longing for a
knowledge of German literature.

February 18. — At the first of this quarter some young gentlemen
came to me and wished me to take charge of a Shakespeare Club
which they wished to form. I did so, as they were the finest students
here, and so we have been meeting two nights in the week ever since.

Just about this time, my dear Kate, one year ago I was sick, as
you will remember. I shall always think of you for your kindness
and how I loved you in my pain. Well, those are old days now to

62 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

us both, and we can look back upon them with some degree of
pleasure in spite of my pain, because it was then that our hearts were
forming that connection which death alone can break. Affliction
c< rtainly helped to knit my heart to yours, and I believe it helped to
unite yours to me.

26. — I am now busy on my lecture before the "Mystic Nine." The
subject I have chosen is, "Why Americans Love Shakespeare." The
subject, I think, will apply to the object of the Club, and I hope the
matter will apply.

March 9. — I have to deliver a lecture in Catskill at the close of the
term on " The Origin and Nature of the English Language." The
subject is prescribed and the lecture requested by the Teachers'
Association of this county. I think I have my hands full, don't you?

17. — I had bad news from home a few days ago. My uncle's only
son died. I think he was about six years old. It will grieve them
almost to death. I wrote Uncle John a letter to comfort him as much
as I could, but a father's and mother's love is unappreciable by any
but themselves.

Our "Mystic Nine" will have their exhibition this week on Thurs-
day. I have my address done. I have nearly finished my essay on
"English Language" for Catskill.

21. — Last night we had our "Mystic Nine" Exhibition. The read-
ing Shakespeare and the Farce were the best things that have ever
been in Ashland. We had a crowded house, more than were ever in
the Seminary before. The reason was there were a great many
invitations sent out to particular people, so that we had a splendid
audience in size and behavior. My address was twenty-five minutes
long.

A visit with Miss La Monte at Charlotteville, on her return
from Liberty, and a journey to Maryland intervene. Again
he writes :

Cambridge, May 3. — Just fifteen years ago my mother died. Many
sad and bright scenes have passed since then, and before another
fifteen years shall have passed I may be with my mother in heaven.
May 3, it will be hallowed in your affections as it is in mine.

At Home, May 10. — There is great opposition here at home to my
going to Germany and still more to my taking anyone with me. They
think it would really be injudicious.

For about two months he is in Carlisle, preparing for his
trip to Europe.

Studying German at Carlisle 63

Carlisle, May. — I am here studying German. I take three lessons
a week, and long ones. I have read nearly two hundred pages, be-
sides an indefinite number in the grammar since I came here. I do
not think I shall have any difficulty after getting to Germany in
understanding the lectures. I believe I told you what steamer we
would go in — The Washington — on 9th August. You will be
benefited by the voyage, and may God grant that our stay in Germany
may better fit us for each other and for God.

June 22. — Dr. McClintock preached this morning in chapel ; it
was a good sermon, of course; for I never heard him preach a bad
one. Mr. Arbogast is but little better. I took him out riding yester-
day; this morning I talked with him about going to Germany. He
expected to go in August with us, but I told him that the doctor had
told me he could not go by the 9th August, and that he must get a
great deal stronger to go at all. He has not strength enough to
stand the sea voyage, and possibly he would be subject to a lingering
illness in Germany. He asked me if I would wait for him; I told
him I could not, that I would have gone in April or May if it had not
been for waiting for him, and that he might be a great deal longer
getting well or have a relapse and prevent me from employment here
and going away altogether. He may, perhaps, think hard of it, but I
cannot help it.

27. — I am glad that you express \our willingness to go with me to
Germany. It is a task to leave friends and relatives for so long a
time as two years, yet I think we can both improve ourselves a great
deal and, if nothing especially disastrous happen, we will return in
improved health. I expect my sister will feel the trial greatly, but
yet she submits when she thinks that it is for my good.

July 1. — Mr. Arbogast has given up all idea of going to Germany
with us. He cried like a child when he told me that he knew he
could not go. I think it is almost time for us to be making some ar-
rangements about when we shall be married. Now I cannot go to
Charlotteville much before the 3d or 4th August. On the 6th we had
better leave Charlotteville so as to be in New York 7th. What are
you willing to do? Shall we be married the night before leaving
Charlotteville? and does your father wish a company at his house?
or had we better be married in the church and just afterward take
the stage for Albany? The latter I prefer, and do not wish any party
or anything of the kind; but I leave the matter in your hands to do
as you feel best about. One thing, we must be in New York on 8th
August, as I shall perhaps meet some friends there. The probability
is that I shall have no one to go up to Charlotteville, which is not

6-j. John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

what I had expected. Whether we are married in the church or at
your father's house, wedding cards will have to be sent. Had I
better get those in the city? and what must be put on them will be
dependent on where we are to be married. I am afraid I cannot
get to Charlotteville in time to send them to a distance, but will be
there as soon as Sallie lets me leave home. How many will you
want ?

July 5. — Since I wrote you last I have received a letter from "The
Bremen Line of Steamers" agent. I shall engage a stateroom for
us at once.

You ask : " When may I expect you ?" I answer, any time after 2d
August. I can hereafter let you know the precise day, but not now.
I shall have some business to attend to in New York, which I will
do before going up to Charlotteville.

I imagine that we shall soon feel at home in Germany. I shall
have a number of letters of introduction and they will go a great
way toward that.

July 10. — I am pleased with your arrangement, but do not know
how you will be married in white silk and travel at once. I am very
well, and start for home in the morning.

XVI

The Engagement Prolonged

The strength of the tie which bound these two hearts in
hope, in purpose, and in love was suddenly and powerfully
tested by the issue presented between the nearly perfected plans
for the wedding and the strong convictions of his sister and her
husband, and his Uncle John, that a wiser plan and one more
conducive to their united interests for the future would be to
postpone marriage. How well this test was met, and how suc-
cessfully though painfully passed, may be learned from the
letters written at this juncture :

Cambridge, Md., July 14, 1856. — I reached home on Saturday. On
Friday I met my uncle in Baltimore. He had heard of my getting mar-

The Lover 65

ried through my sister. You know that my idea was not to get married
when I passed through Baltimore last on my way to Carlisle, but since
your father's proposition of a loan of money I had determined to ac-
cept it and be married. My uncle had just heard of it and I had
desisted writing because I chose to speak to him in person. My sister
was strongly opposed to it and had written to him to use his utmost
influence to dissuade me. I had written that Mr. Arbogast would not
accompany us. The very idea that I had been so fondly resting
upon for nearly two months was bitterly opposed by my friends; not,
my dear Kate, that a single one of them has the least objection to
you, but that they wish me to obtain your consent to postponing the
marriage one year. This is not my wish ; my wishes and fondest
hopes would be realized if we are married and sail immediately for
Europe. You have made every preparation for it, and so have I. I
suppose you have purchased everything necessary for our immediate
marriage. I have even gone so far as to engage passports and
passage for us both.

The reasons on which my sister, uncle, and Dr. Kurtz rest their ad-
vice are these : they all think that I should not marry without knowing
exactly what will be my field of labor, and that, in case some accident
should happen to me, you will be helpless in a strange land. They
are equally opposed to my staying two years abroad. I started from
Carlisle with the hope of soon possessing you, the idol of my heart
and almost of my reason. In Baltimore I met my uncle's strong dis-
approbation of the measure; here, at my sister's, they urge the same
strong reasons. I cannot say there is no weight in their reasons.
Your father's consent was given me to take you away on condition
that my uncle and friends agree. They have never heard definitely
of it until very recently, as we ourselves have not, and it has only
been within the last three days that I have been able to speak face to
face with them on the subject. As much as they dislike my going to
Germany, they dislike still more for me to subject you to any unneces-
sary trouble. My sister gives her consent to my going to Germany
and remaining one year, after which that on my return I marry you
and both come down among my friends together. It is the ardent
wish of my only sister, the advice of Dr. Kurtz, and I am sure will
be sanctioned by my uncle. Shall we yield to the advice of my
friends ? I leave the question to you and your kind father to decide.
It is sometimes an unpleasant thing to yield to friends and their
entreaties of love. Nay, I go farther, it is sometimes unpleasant to
have friends. The friends who advise me to do as I now propose to
do are true friends of the heart and wish me every happiness, and
6

66 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

to bring to you the same conjugal happiness. I can, perhaps, ac-
complish my object in one year of hard study in Germany. With
two months' study of German in Carlisle, I think I can accomplish a
great deal in Germany in one year. As I said, my friends are op-
posed to my staying any longer. If we get married next summer it
will have been two years and three months since we were engaged,
not then as long as I anticipated when we were engaged at Ashland.
Do not let this affect you much, for I will see you very soon. In a
few days after I get an answer to this letter I will start for Charlotte-
ville. I want you to come into the family without a single objection;
here you will find as dear a sister as you left at home, and as kind
friends as any you leave behind, except those that exist only in parents.

I suppose you have written to some of your friends that we will
soon be married. I have done the same and have invited a number
of my friends to meet us in New York. This they will expect to do
and, if you agree to the wishes of my friends, I will write to them
the contrary. My friends have no objection to my marrying at
once if I do not go to Germany. But I must go to Germany; for I
believe it will be far better for us both in after life. They do not
wish me to remain more than a year in Germany, and do not think
that I should postpone the marriage any longer than that. Heaven
knows that I shall not be happy until I am married to you. Ever
since I talked with my uncle I have had but little enjoyment. Even
in conversation, in my private moments and everywhere, I have been
thinking of the sad change in our present arrangements. But before
I see my own friends next summer I shall be united to you, and we
both come south together. Yes, my dear Kate, you are the hope of
my life. There is a sympathy — a chain which unites us that can
never be broken. My friends wish to lengthen that chain, not to
break it. It cannot break by its own weight, for you and I love as
long as we live. There is no change in feeling, no change in the
intensity of my love. It is as lasting and as constant as the beatings
of my own heart. Do you blame me for what I advise, namely, that
we wait one year? It is not happiness lost; it is like a slow but
steady spring; summer will come. I believe your father will not
blame me, and if he will only look at the matter in a practical point
of view I am sure it will be best. I inclose a few lines to your father;
they are about the same that I have written to you. I think we can
take a ride to Cooperstown. Please write your own convictions of
my course. Your own Tohx.

I will start almost as soon as an answer comes from you and your
father.

The Lover 67

His letter to Dr. La Monte of same date inclosed one also
from Dr. Kurtz, his brother-in-law, both briefly stating reasons
for deferring marriage until his return from Germany.

Cambridge, July 18.
To Miss La Monte :

I know you must have had an unhappy time for two or three days
owing to my last letter. Have you thought it unkind in me to write
as I did? I do not believe such a thought will cross your breast. I
hope not, for your happiness is my great aim. Do not let your mind
dwell upon what I have written; give no one information on the
subject; just let the matter rest until I get to Charlotteville ; then we
will do whatever will make us most happy for the present or pros-
pectively. Do not grieve, do not let sad thoughts possess your mind.
I tell you candidly I am willing to do whatever will increase your
happiness and try to give all due weight to the opinions and advices
of my friends. Whatever will make you most happy, I will do. So
do not give way to sad thoughts. It was right for me to write what
I did. In my letter I tried to express only the convictions of my
friends. When I see you I will express my own. The Doctor and
Sallie think a great deal of you. I was visiting last night with them.
Next Thursday (24) I will try to start from here, and with some
effort I can possibly be in Charlotteville on Saturday, 26. Do not
blame me for having written that letter, no matter how unexpected
it was. I send a rose ; it has a kiss for you. Give my love to all.

July 21. — I cannot make all my arrangements as soon as I had
expected, but will be in Charlotteville as early next week as possible.
I cannot get there by Saturday night this week as I had hoped and
written to you. I love you constantly, devotedly, more, if such a
thing can be, since I wrote that task of a letter than before. I know
that during my year in Europe I shall be deprived of many a joy,
but yet it is honorable to yield to friends even though many sacrifices
must be made.

July 25. — Here at home I live in a careless style. Not careless as
regards you, dear Kate, for I do not believe a thought of you could
occur to me and pass by without a care that you may be happy and in
excellent health. Yes, you are always an object of solicitude, and,
however far we may be separated, you are the same to me, the one
whom I love and the one who loves me. I believe every word you
ever told me. Could I disbelieve a word, a look, from you, my days
would be unhappy. Well, I did not get from home as soon as I

68 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

expected, otherwise I should have been at Charlotteville before you
get this letter. The reason I did not get off a few days sooner is
that my clothes were not prepared as soon as they were promised.
1 shall start from here on Monday if nothing happens. Without
delaying two hours in Baltimore, I shall keep on to Philadelphia and
be in New York Tuesday morning. So by Wednesday night you
may expect me. I want to spend all my time with you. I have a
world to tell you which you know notdiing of now. I am afraid you
have given yourself too much uneasiness about Germany. I hope not.
I have prayed that the matter may not weigh too much on your mind
and feelings. I believe that my prayers have been answered. I am
determined when I see you to make every sacrifice, any sacrifice
sooner than your happiness shall be interfered with in the least.

The pathos of this ten days' visit and the converse of these
lovers in the shadow of a foreseen separation of a year or more
cannot here be traced. Enough to know they both faced the
disappointment bravely and adjusted their plans to the changed
situation, strong in a mutual confidence and fidelity which were
never diminished. Before starting on his first trip across the
Atlantic he sent this word to Miss La Monte :

Dey Street House, New York City, August 8.
We happened to reach Albany in time for the boat, but it was
merely a " happen " and not the particular wish of the stage driver.
This morning we reached the city about seven, after a delightful ride
down the river. I found everything right and have a stateroom
which I expect will be occupied by me alone. The Washington is a
huge-looking vessel, and to all appearances can stand anything. I
hope you will anticipate as pleasant a time as I do. I know you
feel, but remember that what I do for myself is also for you.

The Student-Tkayeler 69

XVII
The Student-Traveler

A Landlubber's Log. — In Brunswick

His departure from the home land, his first ocean voyage,
and his first German home in Brunswick are described in his
Journal and in letters to Miss La Monte :

New York, August 9. — Saturday — Dey Street House overnight.
Went over to steamer Washington in good time, and was fairly ini-
tiated into German life. All around were gabbling Deutsch.
Friends were bidding each other good-bye in German. Old German
women were carrying their children in German and sailors of the
boat were fixing the rigging in German. The first thing I was told on
entering the boat was, "Clean your feet." I thought that was a good
indication of cleanliness on the steamer, of which I was afterward
disabused. Crowds were gathering on the wharf. I saw no
familiar face, while almost everyone was looking (perhaps for the
last time) his friend in the face, who had shaken hands and left the
boat. At last I saw Professor Schem, of Dickinson College, who
had been apprised of my departure. How glad I was no one can tell !
I had left dear friends in Maryland, a far dearer one in Charlotte-
ville ; but no long-tried friend gave me the parting hand, the parting
kiss, the parting look as I stepped on board the steamer. Professor
Schem gave me a hearty shake-hands and every hope of success. W e
sailed at twelve. I shed no tears. I had none. I am in the second
cabin among the Dutch, low Dutch. Slept well during night and
waked up with no point of land to rest my eyes upon. My native
land though not in view, yet no less dear or highly prized.

10. — Sunday on the ocean — not much like Sunday in a quiet New
York village or country town in Maryland. The sailors knew no
difference or acted none. Some were stretched out on forward deck
with head on a piece of iron, bunch of rope, or handspike, sleeping
away, or it may be reading a New York Herald and smoking an
insufferably stinking Dutch pipe. We had no service, and I could
scarcely realize it was the Lord's Day. We saw a number of
whales playing about the ship. They were the first I had ever seen,

yo John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

and their long sleek hacks and streams of water were curious enough.
In the afternoon a fog settled over the sea, and almost before we
were aware of it we were in the midst of it. Went to sleep with
minute whistle in my ears.

ii. — Rose late. The fog had disappeared. Played a game of
chess with an Englishman named Coxherd with whom I have formed
a very pleasant acquaintance. He is a fine fellow.

12. — Awoke about 7 a. m. Had a fine sleep and washed in salt
sea water all over, as on previous morning. The sailors give no little
annoyance as they scrub the decks just over my berth. Really it
seems as if they were scrubbing my own back with a flesh brush. A
raging appetite is growing upon me. The meals on the steamer are
so decidedly Dutch that I can scarcely conform to them, and were I
not so insatiably hungry I would undertake to be aristocratic and
dainty, but it is no use to conceal feelings. Beat the Englishman at
chess. Saw a beautiful meteor at night. It is now late at night.
The sailors are singing "Old Dog Tray/' "God Save the Queen,"
"Lilly Dale," and some of the familiar songs of my own native land.

13. — Rose in time for breakfast. Some of us in the room came
near losing our breakfast, as but one could dress at a time. Gradually
becoming acquainted with fellow passengers of second cabin. Find
myself loading with cards and invitations to visit at Cassel, Heil-
bronn, and all the other Dutch places inconceivably hard to pro-
nounce. The meals are still Dutch. The soup had macaroni. I find
it hard to eat. Potato salad which for fear of forgetting I say is
made up of sliced cooked potatoes, oil, onions, and vinegar, and — but
that is Dutch enough for the present. Tried to translate some
German, but cannot fix my mind and commenced reading Helen
Lincoln for passing time. Read my Bible regularly. Was invited
strongly and repeatedly by my English friend to play cards, but re-
fused. He is not so anxious to play chess, however. I write in for-
ward cabin. Some playing cards, children are crying and playing,
some drinking lager, and others looking on, while all are talking
Dutch, French, or something which is not so near my mother
English. I like my language more and more.

14. — Sat a long while on the prow of the boat and watched the
bounding and breaking waves, the floating polypi, the sailing fish, the
distant whales, but saw no land and could only love and remember
scenes in my native land. The last one from whom I had taken the
parting kiss in my country occupied mostly my thought. How dear
life seems to me when I know that some one loves me ; but love is
on the land and I am on the sea. Ah, I know that love bears me up

The Student-Traveler 71

and the prayers put up to heaven from a loving heart in my distant
mountain home bless me even on the angry waves. O may I be able
to breathe a worthy prayer to bless the soul and life of my existence.
Went to bed amid fog, but feel a calm trust in God that I am safe
and would be permitted to return home with improved mind and more
capacity for doing good.

15. — Watched the variegated jelly-looking fish. Went to bed in
such a sea that I was completely rocked to sleep and my berth was
sidewise, cradlelike.

16. — Read through Children of the Abbey. Pretty fair story if
plot constitutes a story. Commenced a piece for Ladies' Repository
on "The Sea ! The Sea !" Don't know whether or not will finish.
Great rejoicing that the fog is gone. Commenced letter to Kate.

17. — Birthday on the sea. Captain had services in after-saloon to
which forward cabin passengers were invited. Captain read hymns,
" From all that Dwell below the Skies," and " From Greenland's
Icy Mountains," one of Watson's sermons, and prayers, Episcopal
Prayer Book. The sailors attended, but were lively enough when
Captain did not see them. They were all dressed up finely enough.
Afternoon German preaching in forward cabin. A Hungarian and
Irishman were disorderly, at which the Captain was near confining
them both until end of voyage. The day was quite Sundaylike, but
O, how different from land ! Commenced letter to sister Sallie and
continued Kate's.

18. — Wrote some on "The Sea ! The Sea !" A lecture at night by
Peit Stenardonics, a Hungarian exile, a good speaker, and late
captain in Hungarian army.

19. — Finished "The Sea !" but have not copied it.

20. — Wind rises, we enter English Channel. It is quite stormy for
a landsman.

21. — Slept but little during the night. Rolled about in my berth.
Every joint in the boat seemed to creak. The boat pitches fearfully.
Nearly all on board seasick. I ate but little, to guard against it. All
are in expectation of seeing the Scilly Island lights.

22. — Got up in the night thinking it was day and I would see a
fine sunrise, but alas! on rising and dressing in a reel, found the
boat heaving fearfully, with the bright heavens and the sailors on the
lookout for land. About 9 a. m. made Land's End, England. No
one knows but those in the same situation how happy I felt on seeing
land once more. What beautiful chalk cliffs all along the English
coast ! Sometimes we were far out of sight of land, but soon came
in front of an abrupt point and could see the beautiful green fields

j2 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

and parks of Merrie England. It was night when we passed Hnrst
Castle, perhaps the home of my fathers. I could see only the out-
lines of the old towers by moonlight. It was beautiful in its gloomy,
silent melancholy. We entered the Needles without getting a pilot.
It was difficult to enter, but our Captain and mate risked it. We
reached Cowes about n o'clock at night. A boat came after con-
siderable waiting to take off the mails and passengers for Southamp-
ton. I was a little sorry to see some of the passengers leave, but
thus acquaintance is formed and broken all through life. It is sel-
dom that traveling acquaintances are permanent. It requires some-
thing more than mere accident to perpetuate acquaintance, and we
have but little faith in love at first sight. We left Cowes about three.
Mailed three letters, one for Kate, another for Ladies' Repository, and
third for sister.

23. — Enjoyed the beautiful scenery of England very much.
Brighton, the great bathing place, and a favorite resort of the
Queen, presented a beautiful appearance through the spyglass.
"Shakespeare Rock" was of chalk where King Lear didn't jump off.
The coast of France in the distance. Dover is a beautiful place — a
large city and has splendid buildings; Dover Castle is grand, and I
hope to visit it before leaving. Hastings is fine, and William the
Conqueror landed there in 1066. The great battle between him and
Harold occurred close by. His old castle is on the hill to the north.
It is now in ruins. Sailors, officers, and all have been continually
talking of the stormy North Sea.

24. — The sea is rather quiet, and we are sailing on the North Sea
with all sails up. Met a good many boats, very unlike the lonesome
time we had on the Atlantic. A number of storms are in view. We
make the coast of Holland. It is rather low in appearance and in
fact. Saw Heligoland in the distance. Its inhabitants never leave
the island. They are always the best of pilots and sailors.

Steamer Washington, August 15.
To Miss La Monte :

You cannot tell my feelings when I stepped aboard the steamer in
New York unaccompanied by anyone save the avaricious porter. I
say you cannot tell my feelings, but you can, too ; those feelings found
a response in your heart and I dare say you watched the hours of
Saturday, 9th, and knew as well as I did when 12 o'clock came. I
did feel as though I would like to see some familiar face and grasp
some sincere hand. My baggage had been stored away and I was
ready to leave, only I wanted to see some friend. While I was thus

The Student-Traveler -3

watching the eager crowd, I saw one, it was no one you know, but
one whom I thought a great deal of, Professor Schem, of Carlisle.
I had not seen him since I left Carlisle, but he knew I was to leave
on 9th, and had not forgotten. I went off the boat, shook hands, and
I imagine he was glad to see me. I told him how it was with us ;
he thought it best as it is, and said that I could accomplish my object
in a year abroad. We talked till just before the boat left. He
gave me a hearty grasp and earnest hopes of success. It was all I
wanted then, some expression of sincerity before I left.

August 22. — I have felt, my dear Kate, that your prayers have
helped me. Almost ever since I left you, I have had an unusual
trust and confidence in God. Yes, I know your prayers have helped
me ; I have prayed for you, but I feel more in need of prayers than I
know you are. I have a thousand things to guard against that you
have not and know nothing about. I am so much afraid that you
have been troubled about me. O, I trust not. Since I remain in
Germany but one year, I know now that it is best that you did not
come. I should probably have kept you two years from home and
without having employed the most of my time in strict study. I
might have lost the year which I now gain. I intend, if possible, to
accomplish all my expectation in one year's time, and if I do not I
shall consider that God knows best and does best.

His arrival in Bremen, August 25, was little more than a
preliminary to a hasty departure to Brunswick, from which
place, after securing quarters, he writes to Miss La Monte
August 3 1 :

At first I stopped at the "Deutsches Haus," but it was in a narrow
street and looked rather gloomy ; so it has been something of a relief
for me to get into a private family. My old landlord and landlady
are really funny people. They can't speak a word of English, and we
have great times to understand each other. He sends me up the
German newspapers every morning, for which I thank the boy in the
best German I can command. I have two rooms because they are
both small and are connected. Conscience knows how old the house
is. It is half bent with age, and instead of its head getting gray, it is
getting green as fast as the moss can cover the rough, irregular tiles.
The Dom is about twenty feet, not that much, from my room. It is
an old, old church, full of pictures and arches and statues built by
Henry the Lion. He is buried in it, and I believe other kings also.

74 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

My breakfast is sent to me at 7^2 in the morning. It always con-
sists of delightful coffee (a nice pot of it), six rolls and butter. I
eat all up commonly. Yesterday morning they sent me only five rolls,
which I devoured in a hurry. I go to Miss Agnes (Sach) to recite
at M to 10; go to the same house at dinner and supper. We always
talk German, and I am getting along pretty finely.

XVIII
On Foot in the Harz Mountains

His foot-journeys and the life of the open air formed a chief
item in the combined pleasures of studious observation and the
recuperation of health. This habit now forming was strength-
ened by several pedestrian tours during his first stay in Europe.
The first was a short one, from Brunswick to Wolfenbuttel, on
September 10, of which he writes (Journal) when beginning
a second and longer one in the Harz Mountains :

September II, Brunswick. — Had a pleasant time at Wolfenbuttel.
So much of the "charming dust" was enough to fill me up with it or
rather choke me, but I did not walk home, or that might have been
the case. All through the road from Brunswick to Wolfenbuttel it
was grand — splendid avenues of trees. We reached hotel in the
afternoon by railroad. Took late dinner, but it was all the better to
make up for it. Had chance to read a number of pages in Schiller's
Fall of Netherlands, when Waite and Coit (Joshua) took it into
their heads to go to Harz next morning. I believe I was the first,
however, for I mentioned that it would be a good idea ; for the
weather was so fine, which is something of a rarity thus far in Ger-
many. Well, I slept well after the nine miles walk of the day. We
took railroad to Harzburg which is situated at the foot of the Harz
Mountains. Coit, Waite, and Registrator Sach were company. We
then commenced the ascent of the Harz. Of course, we rested occa-
sionally. We overtook a party of ladies who were going as far as
the old castle on the way to the Brocken. At last we reached a
hotel situated by the ruins of an old castle which Julius Caesar is
said to have built, but more probably Henry IV. Gathered some

The Student-Traveler 75

little flowers from the old castle walls to send to Kate, but as I have
gathered so many on the way and mixed them I can't tell which is
which. We went out of the way a mile or two to get a fine view
from some high rocks. We met a party on mules, who had just come
down the Harz. There was a pretty girl among them. I went into
a house or several of them to see how the people lived. We took a
guide at one of the houses. He would talk very loud, and as I asked
him to tell me some Brocken yarns he would tell me some fine ones,
and on my insisting that he should talk slower and lower he would
not do it. He was clever, and I had some fine jokes with him and
his frau when we left him. I believe they kept the cow in another
room of the dwelling. Had some delicious milk here — it was just
like cream. We finally reached the great Brocken. We had been
walking uphill nearly nine hours and were tired. Had a grand sunset.
I had never seen the like before.

12. — Rose quite early and, after going to the top of the observatory
and witnessing a "Sunrise on the Brocken," came down to breakfast,
or rather coffee and bread alone, as is the custom here in Germany.
What a time coming down the hills ! No one can tell but those who
have undergone the same experience. My legs were tired, I believe,
more than in going up the evening before, because different muscles
were brought into play. First we were in a beautiful vale and then
on some grand point. The way to Ilsenstein was very pleasant after
I gave my knapsack to a boy to carry. We finally reached Ilsenstein,
a point 350 feet over the vale below and 1,450 feet above the level
of the North Sea. We did not go to Ilsenburg, but swept on our
way to Wernigerode. I gathered a little flower that was peculiar to
the land over which I traveled, to send to some of my friends and
particularly to her who is nearest my heart and whose locket I bear
about with me. We were almost worn out, and every five minutes
asked the Fuhrer when we would be where there is anything to eat.
At last we reached a Wirthshaus. Huge and small antlers were hung
around the walls, and since then we came to a house where they were
so arranged on the walls as to form different figures, such as dia-
monds and others. I had been talking on the way with some German
ladies who accompanied us. They could understand me, and I could
partially understand them. Here at the Gast Haus we had sausage,
black bread, and milk, which quite refreshed us all. Then we started
for Wernigerode again and had a good echo or two at one point on
the way. We approached the city within a mile, when a delightful
landscape was presented to the view. Below us the vale was gradual
and presented a fine appearance. To the right on the side of the

j6 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

far-stretching hills were peasants laboring in the barley and potato
fields. They take off their hats at the approach of strangers, and
sometimes they dispatch one for money. In front of this beautiful
landscape is the old castle of Elbingerode, high on a mountain with
the village below and between us and it. To the left rises the peak
of the Brocken. For real beauty this landscape surpassed anything
that I have seen in Europe or America.

We stopped all together at the Deutsches Haus. We partook of
table d'hote, but I had just half-satisfied myself with six pears that I
had purchased at the city gate. We went to the top of the castle,
which is at present occupied by the court of the city. After going
up a long high mountain side we came to the outside of the old
castle. A woman came out with some keys, and we supposed she
was going to carry us up to the top of the castle and let us see the
fine landscape that we had just viewed from a more retired place;
but, no, she kept carrying us around and around, always on the
ground until we were within fifty feet from the top of the building.
We saw some flowers and. grapevines and a pretty fair view below,
considering the branches of the trees in the way. At last we came
to a halt. She carried us through an old stairway or two, but of no
observatory did we see the inside. On the whole I was disappointed,
but gave our conductor some money from American name rather
than from any idea of benefit or pleasure derived from the old castle.
We had now traveled six hours, but here was not the end, and we
had to go three hours more to Riibeland, making nine hours for the
day, and, counting three miles to the hour, twenty-seven miles.

Riibeland. — We had a pretty good supper, but I was awfully tired
and worn out. I was startled at times in my sleep — one time I
thought myself actually sick, but up, up and out, no time for dreams
here. We visit Bauman's Cave, and the iron and marble works a
little out of town.

13. — Long, long we go till away in the afternoon we got to Ross-
Trappe. At night slept at bottom of Ross-Trappe with Hexentanzplatz
behind and the rolling stream in view, with dark mountains behind it.

14. — Visit Halberstadt, and now at night I am so tired, here in
Brunswick, that I must go to bed.

On this outing in the Harz Mountains he makes these com-
ments :

It is seldom the case that the American who travels in Europe
ever cares much about visiting the Harz unless he does it to gratify

The Student-Traveler j~

his taste for geology. But it is not everyone who has this taste, and
hence travelers prefer to go by railroad or post through Europe in-
stead of putting up with some inconveniences and doing a little foot
traveling. For those, then, who intend to do all their traveling in a
car or coach the Harz can afford no inducement. One must expect
inconveniences such as walking up a great many mountain sides, a
restless night from too much exercise, and sometimes a little hunger.
Already supplied with these facts, we commenced a pedestrian tour
to the Harz, and for all the inconveniences I suffered I now feel
amply repaid.

XIX

At Old Halle

After a few side trips to Wolfenbiittel, the Harz Mountains,
and Magdeburg, mid-October saw our young student settled
in Halle, and in its famous university we find him matriculated
October 31, 1856, as a student in the department of Theology,
which registered four hundred and forty-five the latter half of
that year. Three other Americans were his companions in
theological study — William Alvin Bartlett, of Binghamton,
New York; Joshua Coit, of New London, Connecticut; and
Clarendon Waite, of Worcester, Massachusetts. All four had
their home at 6 Scharnngasse. Another American was one of
seventy-nine students in the department of Philosophy, Henry
Hedge Mitchell, of Belfast, Maine. Halle was crowded that
year with seven hundred students, of whom these five were
the only Americans. John Fletcher Hurst was listed on the
rolls of Professor Jacobi in Church History, of Professor Roe-
diger in Introduction, of Professor Tholuck in Encyclopaedia,
and probably of Professor Julius Miiller in Doctrinal Theology.
In his letters and Journal his own pen has supplied a picture
of his life at Halle, and on some excursions to other places.

j8> John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

Halle, October 19.
To Miss La Monte :

The next morning, after arrival, I was visiting a curious building
in Halle, and fortunately fell in with an American by the name of
Bartlett. I found him to be a very good fellow, and one whom I
could get along with as a companion.

October 22. — Bartlett happened to be living in the same house that
the two Puritans had just entered, and it was very close to the
University and looked out on a beautiful promenade near the Uni-
versity. There was but one room vacant. That was in the fourth
story and at the back part of the building. It was very small, and a
very tall person would have considerable difficulty in bending his
head and shoulders for the many angles which are formed by the
hip roof and un-American sort of window. Independent of that was
the little bedroom which was just large enough to come out of the
next morning the same way one goes in overnight, without turning
around. These two little rooms I engaged, at about $17, till next
March, with heating of one included. Everything else I have is
extra. My house expenses for a week I think I can nearly determine.
One half bowl of loaf sugar, one can of lamp oil, four loaves of
brown bread, llA plates of butter, with three cups of coffee every
morning and three cups of tea at night. My dinner I take with Bart-
lett, in a little eating house about five minutes' walk from the boarding
house. Generally my dinner costs about thirteen cents, but if I take
rabbit instead of beefsteak it is something more, as well also if I
have the daring impudence to call for two or three potatoes more
than they put on my plate. My plates of food I keep in a little drawer
in my room, and I can pull the bell whenever I wish any more brown
bread, or a little turf to put in the stove.

The professors, too, are somewhat different from the overdignified
manner which I have seen in colleges at home. They are exceedingly
kind. The two Yankees, Bartlett and I, were invited to Dr. Tholuck's
to tea the other evening. We had a pleasant time, and Mrs. Tholuck
is more like an American lady than anyone I have seen lately. I
heard a lecture to-day, but the professor spoke as if his mouth were
full of brown bread, and even one of the German students told me
that he was hard to understand. If Dutch can't understand Dutch, I
don't know what will become of English.

His purpose to see the historic places of Europe carries him
out of Halle for three or four days before he has been three
weeks within its classic precincts.

The Student-Traveler 79

November 1. — In Weimar — the home of Goethe, Schiller, and
Herder.

2. — In Erfnrt, where Luther was a monk ; visited the cell and
bought some autographs — representations of Luther's chirography as
well as Melanchthon's.

3. — Visited the Thiiringer-wald, Gotha — the home of Prince Albert
— and Eisenach, where I drank five cups of tea, smoked a cigar,
talked over college days, the compound and some of its illustrious
members, as well as over-sea experiences. Don't feel tired much,
although have walked nearly thirty miles to-day.1

Halle, November 5.
To Miss La Monte :

While you are all together some evening indulging in nice cake
and other such luxuries, I am away up here in a back attic room
reading some Dutch books and every few minutes taking a slice of
my brown bread, if it is mealtime with me, or speaking bad German
to some student visitor. Well, these things can't last forever.

Halle, November 24.
To John Hurst:

My Dear Uncle: The new life to which I have been subjected
and the study which I must perform have prevented me from doing
many things that I did not by any means intend to neglect when I
left the United States. One of them was to write to you, but I
believe at this late date you will willingly read a few lines on what
I have been doing since I have been here. The first six weeks I
spent in Brunswick, one of the oldest and handsomest of the German
cities, where I lived and studied German in a nice family to whom I
had a letter of introduction. The language is spoken in greater
purity in Brunswick than in any other part of Germany, and this
was no little inducement to spend a little while there before attending
University lectures. During the four weeks that I have been listen-
ing to the lectures in Halle I have succeeded in getting accustomed
to the language and the style of the lectures, so that at this time I
feel that I am deriving profit from the ideas as well as the German'
when I listen to a long lecture. I had several letters to professors
here, and as soon as I became fixed in a boarding house I paid them
calls and handed my letters to them. That was enough to secure
their kindness and attention, and each one of them with whom I am
acquainted has acted to me in such a different way from what I had

1 For an interesting account of this outing see his Life and Literature in the Fatherland,
pp. 396, ft.

8o John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

been accustomed to at home that I felt at once that they were really
kind friends.

Journal. Christmas Eve. — Studied hard all day. Had been hoping
ever since I had been in Halle that Dr. Tholuck would give us
American students an invitation to his celebrated Christmas Eve
celebration. On the morning of the day when he was to have it. he
sent out his bungling invitation to one of the members who was off
traveling, which was likely to knock the remaining ones out of a
good time unless we opened the letter or our absent friend returned.
Bartlett opened it, and there was an invitation for us all. So we went.

Christmas Day. — Studied pretty hard again. At night we English
and Americans had a great supper.

December 26. — Started in cars for Dresden. No fire in the cars.
I distributed tracts in the cars. Almost everyone whom I gave them
to seemed very glad to get them, but one fellow in the corner looked
like a Jew, and I noticed him very curiously to see what he would do
with a tract, but he would not even take one. The one who sat next
to him handed one to him, but he refused, and when he saw that
nothing was charged for them persisted in refusing. In Dresden was
almost frozen. Arrived at "Golden Angel'' Hotel ; finely accommo-
dated. Fell in with a fine old man from Gottingen, who is, I think,
a professor there. He was kind, and we have been together since.
Sunday heard a fine half of a sermon in a Lutheran church, and then
went to the great Catholic church, where there was a greater amount
of circumstance and show than I had before seen. It is now Sunday
night. With the prayer that God will continue to bless me, and my
friends at home, and make Germany more Christian, I here drop
my pencil and sleep at peace with God and all the world.

Dresden, 27. — What have I really seen to-day ? The Green Vaults,
the Historical Cabinets. What a world of jewels, silver utensils, gold,
and everything else that reminds one of luxury ! What struck me
most was that all the fine articles were productions of the middle ages.
And then the Great Armory, the coats of mail, the slippers of Kant
and Napoleon with them, and a thousand other mementos of a great
many other great men.

28. — Visited with my friend the Japanese Gallery. Had much joy
in visiting these antique specimens of sculpture. Visited once more,
and more attentively, the picture gallery, and gave a farewell look
at the Madonna.

The trip to Dresden was lengthened to take in Berlin, Pots-

The Student-Traveler 8i

dam, and Wittenberg. This is the way he plans for another

tour :

Halle, February 22, 1857.
To Miss La Monte:

I have been working like a Turk all this winter, and really I feel
as if I ought to rest a while. We shall have but six weeks to see
the cities of Eastern Germany. Dresden I have already seen, but
then we must spend a couple of days in Prague, three or four in
Vienna, then keep on to Trieste, take the steamer from there to Ven-
ice, and then perhaps direct across the Apennines to Rome. We shall
expect to make a hasty visit and take it rough.

Venice, Italy, March 18.
To Miss La Monte :

How I did hate to leave Halle ! I little thought that I could get
attached to such a rough-looking, antiquated place as Halle is, but
so it was, and I could not leave without sincere regrets. The Wednes-
day night or evening before I left Halle I spent very pleasantly with
Bartlett, for I know not whether I shall ever see him again. Next
morning I bade him good-bye in bed, and my heart yearned after him
when I gave him the parting hand. My books were all packed up
and put in charge for me at Halle until I may order them to be sent
to the U. S., with whatever additions I may make to them before
leaving Europe. I dislike so much to give the "Leben sie wohl" to
my good old landlady and her old dissipated husband. The girl with
dirty hands, who used to make my fires, had grown familiar to me, and
I was sad even in giving her the parting words. Another girl, who
used to bring me my bread and coffee, had such a pleasant voice and
was always so kind that I disliked very much to leave her. The old
bootblack came to see me the day before I was to leave, to see if
I had any old clothes or boot-legacies for him, as well as to get
his last Thaler for bootblacking. I didn't want to leave even him.
All my old clothes I gave to my fat old landlady for whatever poor
children she thought might need them. Yes, I drank my last cup
of coffee, ate my last piece of bread, and stood at my desk for the
last time with no little regret.

The Rev. Dr. W. A. Bartlett, who frequently met his theo-
logue friend in after life and who was pastor of the New York
Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington during the first
few years of Bishop Hurst's residence there, gives us the bene-

82 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

fit of his keen-eyed observations at Halle and on sundry jour-
neys with our student-traveler:

Bishop Hurst, as a young man in the University of Halle, was a
typical American youth of the period. He had the push, the enthusi-
asm, the confident ability, and the good nature of a young man with
a future. Forty-eight years ago, the students from the States were
not so numerous as to-day in German Universities.

When we met at Halle, in the fall of 1856, to prosecute our the-
ological studies under Julius Miiller, Tholuck, and Jacobi, we were the
sole Americans in our line of work, although soon afterward we were
joined by two others. Young Hurst, coming from the Eastern Shore,
Maryland, brought its peculiar traditions and customs, and in his
hearty, genial manner entertained us often at meals, at the house of
Tholuck, by explaining these American eccentricities. At this time
Hurst was a robust, hearty boy, kind, earnest, and industrious ; he
mastered rapidly the colloquial German and took his notes of lectures
in German schrift. This period prophesied his future success and
promotions ; it was the gate which opened into his succeeding occupa-
tions, and it forecast his methods of work and their characteristics.
His sturdy faith withstood the rationalism of Strauss and kept him
true to his Christian ideals and experience. He was an honest disci-
ple of Tholuck, who dealt the Tubingen school its deathblow. We
were often at the table of the great professor, the Saint John of the
Halle apostolate. He was a favorite companion of his also in long
and instructive walks, in which theology and personal piety and the
grand themes of life and eternity were discussed. He made the best
use of his time, and laid the foundation of those high qualities which
crowned his exalted career.

In the spring of 1857 Hurst and myself made a foot tour through
the Thuringian and Black forests. Galled and weary footpads require
much present grace in time of need, which is generally late in the
afternoon after weariness of the flesh in sight-seeing, and demoraliz-
ing fatigue. I think as I look back to that sunlit journey we stood the
test of our piety fairly well as incipient saints. It was just prior to
our civil war, when the North and South were waxing hot over
slavery. It would not be exactly fair to say that we anticipated
the great conflict, but I recall a certain sunset, after a hard day's
tramp, when we discussed the " irrepressible conflict " with some
physical and energetic arguments — an argumentum ad hominem —
which caused us both speedily afterward humiliation and repentance.
Hurst was not the type of a pietist as such, but rather a student who

Leaving Halle 83

set out to prove all things and hold fast that which is good. His
Godward asceticism was warmed by human contacts.

We met often enough in the heat and burden of our day's work to
review humorously the German experiences.

The Rev. Joshua Coit, corresponding secretary of the Massa-
chusetts Home Missionary Society, says of young Hurst at this
period :

He was of an earnest, eager spirit, strait-thinking and outspoken.
His mind was active and inquisitive. He was positive in his convic-
tions as to right and wrong, and did not fall in with much of the
German student laxity, but withstood manfully temptations to let down
his spiritual life.

From Halle to Rome

The remaining eight months of his stay in Europe were
divided between journeys by rail, by boat, and on foot through
the southern and central countries of the Continent and in
England and Scotland, and two brief sojourns, one of about
five and the other about three weeks, in Heidelberg. Brief
excerpts from his fascinating accounts (Journal) of this really
his first round among the great scenes of nature and of human
history must satisfy us :

March 13, 1857. — Started from Halle at 7 a. m. Met my company
in Dresden and proceeded down to Prague. In the evening started
for Vienna. Had a cold ride all night. Fortune knows how many
times we had to show our passports.

14. — Vienna we reached in a snowstorm. I walked up from the
cars. The hackman carried my companions to the wrong hotel, and
I had some difficulty in finding them, but succeeded at last. We all
put up at the "Golden Lamb." We started for Saint Stephen's
Church. How much we enjoyed it ! We first went to the top of the
high tower in order to get a good view of the city.

84 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

15. — Sunday we went to the Church of Saint Stephen's and the
Imperial Chapel. The melancholy chanting of the Roman Catholic
choirs always fills me with emotions, and the most unfeeling Prot-
estant cannot look at the poor Catholic as he approaches a picture
of the Virgin or a cross, and bows as if in earnest longing for a
better and happier life, without being impressed with the sincerity
of his heart.

16. — We started early in the morning for Trieste. We reached
Laibach late at night and ordered the coachman to take us to the
"Golden Bell*' Hotel, but he did not do it, and we found ourselves
in the hotel that he preferred. We told the hotel-keeper that we would
take the diligence next morning for Trieste. He awakened us at
4^2 a. m., but after eating breakfast and getting ready to leave we
found ourselves in his own conveyance.

17. — A long and tedious day was this ! — jj miles' stage ride from
Laibach to Trieste. Our stage broke down and we had rain all day.
What a stew we were in ! We all got to the nearest house and
squatted around an old woman's brick stove. At last we hurried oft.
We had a good many omnibus drivers and had to pay all trink-geld. I
sat on the right side of the stage next to the broken wheel and always
watched to see when the linchpin was slanting, but when we got to a
blacksmith's shop we got all things fixed. We tried many ways to
pass away the time. I shall never forget the games and stories we
employed. At last we saw away down in the valley below us a world
of lights. This was Trieste, and there the classic Adriatic. We could
see the lights from some boats on the water. We went rapidly down
the hill, and when we had nearly reached its bottom we saw the side
of the mountain studded with village lights like a casket of jewels.

18. — We started from Trieste soon in the morning for Venice. O.
what a glorious sight this was ! There were the grand old Apen-
nines in the distance. Here we are sailing on the old Adriatic. We
had a good breeze and reached Venice about the middle of the day.
A flood of gondolas came crowding around the boat, and we char-
tered one to take us ashore. Ashore, did I say ? No, to take us to
our hotel steps, for we did not step on ground, but on the steps of
our hotel. After getting something to eat — yes, even before that —
we went to the famous Place of Saint Mark's. Here was the Doge's
Palace and the Church of Saint Mark. Never shall I forget my first
view. We did but little else than walk about and look at the canalled
city of Venice. The inside was yet to be seen.

21. — Saw last of Venice; had a ride for the last time in a gondola.
Set out in cars for Padua with Webber. We had a cold, gloomy

Padua, Ferrara, Bologna 85

V/2 hours' ride. Arrived in rain at Padua, found no carriage to carry
us to hotel, and after hiring a porter wound our way about 1V2 miles
to hotel, "Golden Eagle."

22. — Webber was sick abed, and I had a gloomy time that day.
It was Sunday, and of course I did not visit the curiosities as a trav-
eler. Went to the Church of Saint Anthony. I shall never forget
how I was moved on seeing the poor people bowing on the cold floors
and before the image of the Virgin.

27,. — At one we started on vettura for Ferrara. We had a toler-
ably comfortable time to Rovigo. I shall not forget the flying ferry-
boats and how everyone wanted money from us. Rovigo was a dirty
place, and we went to the hotel to which our vetturino brought us,
as we hired him on condition that he pay everything. We fixed up
pretty well. Had pranzo and went to bed, Webber jumping a good
deal in his sleep, probably owing to apprehension from the robbers ;
for we all knew that we were not in the best quarters.

24. — We rose early and started for Ferrara. It rained a good deal
of the way, but we reached Ferrara about noon and went to see the
prison where Tasso was confined in his madness. I shall never forget
how Byron's name looked cut on the outside. We passed through
lowlands and reached Bologna about 9 p. m., stopping at the Hotel
Pellegrino, a nice place and very homelike. The landlord and his wife
were as kind as they could be. We felt as if we were at home.

25. — We went around first in the old University — to the dome —
and had a fine view of Bologna and the surrounding mountains.
Went through the anatomical collection also, and then to the Picture
Gallery. I saw there the Santa Cecilia, by Raphael, a beautiful pic-
ture. The faces are simple and yet grand, a characteristic of Raphael.
Saw the tomb of the Volta family and Napoleon's sister. Took a walk
in the public gardens. Ate some famous Bologna sausage. Heard
our landlord tell of robber dangers between Bologna and Florence.
We were all greatly excited; talked over the dangers and trials to
which travelers are subjected. I sewed up my watch in my coat
collar, but it stuck out so plainly that I took it out and packed it in
my carpetbag.

26. — Rose at 3 and started at 4 a. m. for Florence. Paid out our
account, took leave of our good landlord, and then walked to diligence
office and started out, seven in banquette. We were all gratified to
see that we had an escort of soldiers to guard against the robbers.
We were now on the way to Florence, riding in the dark and subjected
every moment to robbers, but we saw and heard from none. We
had a rainy day. We came in the course of afternoon to a dirty

86 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

hole which we all had to wralk over. I was the first one to find a
fire in a rude peasant cot. I made free with the baby and got warm.
We reached Florence at ioM> p. m., sleepy, tired, and worn out.

Of this day and the spirit of one of the company Mr. Coit
says :

I recall with amusement his vigorous determination not to be
robbed by brigands the day we started from Bologna at 3 a. m. in a
vettura. Our road was dangerous, though it had been several weeks
since an attack had been made. The rest of our party thought dis-
cretion the better part of valor. But Hurst, who put his valuables
in his stockings, was determined to fight rather than be robbed.- But,
alas ! no brigands appeared.

27. — I strolled over the classic Arno and wandered along one of
the streets beyond it. One of the first things that struck me was on
a door, the name of Powers, sculptor. How glad it made me feel
and how proud to think that I had a fellow-countryman abroad who
had done so much for the land of Washington !

28. — Rode out to Fiesole.

29. — Walked a long distance to the English church. How my
heart rejoiced once more to hear God worshiped in my native tongue !

From 29th March to Thursday, April 9, had as interesting and
pleasant a time as could be expected in visiting and reconnoitering
Florence. I cannot enumerate half what I saw, but Florence will
always live in my memory, yes, in my affections. Wrhat a satisfac-
tion we all had in visiting the studio of our great artist, Powers, the
maker of the Greek Slave ! We were pleased with all that we saw.
Powers himself was modest, as many great men often are, and as kind
and inducing to stay as he could well be. We recognized around his
shelves of busts many of our American great men and felt that
really we were in the studio of an American. The order to visitors,
"Don't touch the work," was in English ; reason I will give when
asked. We registered our names in his album and gave his son a
hearty shake-hands when we left. Powers himself disappeared
without anyone noticing him.

April 9. — On Thursday afternoon we started from Florence, the
flower-girl stuck the last flower in our breast coat, and. after paying
her the little pittance, we left in very unpleasant and second-class
cars for Siena. At Siena we were beset by beggars. Next morning
we walked about town and saw the principal places that were worth

Accident near Rome 87

seeing, and left in the stage for Rome, great Rome. Old Journal, I
do not want to tell you all about a stage ride of nearly two days'
length, and especially put down such a melancholy picture as I would
be compelled to do. Viterbo, Acquapendente, the beautiful lake, the
getting out and walking, all would deserve a notice. All is classic
ground if we remember that the Romans and Etruscans and Sabines
once lived.

Many a hermit or shepherd's hold had we seen in the ground, and
many a laden ass and brigand-looking Italian had we met, when we
came in sight of one fine-looking bridge, narrow in the middle and
wide at the ends, like so many other Roman bridges. I had identified
this bridge as the one where Constantine had his celebrated dream,
and I told my companion so, an American who happened to ride in
the banquette at my side. We were both indulging our imagination
on the subject when we saw that we would come in contact with the
left side of it. It was inevitable. I was high from the ground and
didn't know what to do. It seemed like a dream to me. I looked at
the precipice below to the left and to the hard stones. The stage
reeled, I jumped to the right and fell on my arms. I felt injured at
once, if not internally, at any rate badly in the forehead and arms.
The passengers all appeared very much concerned. The conductor
declared he must send to Rome for a wheel and wagon tongue, as
ours were both broken. Then the company all went to a little locanda
to sleep until called for, except the German, and he stayed with me.
I shall never forget how restless I was, and how kind he was to me.
He wrapped me up in shawls and his cloak and allowed me to lean
upon him. How many passed as we both sat there alone, the
peasant on his little ass, the woman driving on her little gang of
calves. The night was moonlight, and we had some time been in
sight of Saint Peter's. The peasants all looked curiously through the
windows, some appeared sorry, others looked on indifferently as if
they were glad it was not they, and thus they passed along. Time
passed slowly by, and at last the wheel and tongue came, like am-
bassadors from the Eternal City, to receive us. We started slowly,
the postilions seemed more careful, if indeed they were the same ones,
and thus we wound up the hill. We called at the locanda, took in
our associates, and went along our way to Rome.

Half the horizon seemed to be what the Germans call a Morgen
Roth. Indeed, I had never seen a more beautiful view in all my life,
I mean an early morning view. The old Saint Peter's stood in the
distance before us; the Capitol and all that once made Rome so
grand at home and so influential abroad. My head was racked with

88 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

pain. I was dreadfully pained in every limb and muscle, and so I
made my entrance to the Eternal City. I thank God that I was not
killed. (Professor G. N. Webber, of Smith College, who was with
him, says, "The accident might easily have been a fatal one.") His
mercy I will try to bear in mind more hereafter than I have ever
done before. We reached the diligence office, had our baggage over-
hauled, and I was in great confusion to know to what hotel I could
go, so I started off alone to Hotel d'Amerique. No lodging there.
All was full. I asked if I could not be allowed to use or take an
American's room for a few minutes, not to sleep, but to dress my
forehead. No, the most of them were not yet up, and there was no
chance. They referred me to Spillman's, and after walking up and
down many flights of stairs I could not find Spillman. Went to
Hotel dAllemagne then. Waited a long while, and at last a room
was given me for a few hours until the owner came back. It, too,
was at the top of the house, but I was glad enough to get any place
to dress my wounds. I was shocked to find my cuts so severe, but I
kept a good heart and dressed them as well as I could, then went out
in search of a private apartment, but all efforts were fruitless.
Finally went to a coffeehouse and drank coffee. My bandaged head
attracts the attention of everyone. About n went up the steps in
Piazza di Spagna and found Webber and the German. We then
went out again to coffeehouse and afterward hunted after rooms, but
I was too weak ; could walk no more, and the German was so kind to
me that he gave me the use of his room and bed; and so I took a
pleasant nap. I had a physician soon. He told me not to be alarmed,
as there was no danger. Webber got a good pair of rooms, and I
thanked him in my heart for getting them.

Easter Sunday, 19. — Went to Saint Peter's Church and got a good
place to see the ceremonies and, after all the ceremony was con-
cluded, to see the Pope give the benediction to the assembled multi-
tudes. This was an impressive scene. The Pope is a kind-looking
old man, and I dare say he is really a good man if his government is
a weak one.

20. — Visited the Pyramid of Cestius and the Protestant burial
ground. Stood by the graves of Shelley and Keats, and plucked some
flowers for a memento for my friends at home. This was a beautiful
scene : the mountain made of earthenware, the houses covered with
it at the foot of the hill, the distant Saint Paul's, the feeding cattle,
the cross of the hill, the Pyramid, the burial ground and cypress and
monuments, the Saint Peter's, all of it hid but the dome, the distant
mountains, the Capitol, the Forum in front, were all enchanting

At Heidelberg 89

enough. The return home was by the Tarpeian Rock and the foot of
the ruins of the Palace of the Cassars.

23. — Ascended the cupola of Saint Peter's. Finished all our sight-
seeing, had wandered for the last time through the living Vatican,
had taken another look at the Coliseum, the Saint Peter's, the Guido's
Aurora. A great time in my life were the two weeks in Rome, never
to be forgotten.

From Rome to Glasgow and Homeward

April 25, 1857. — Reached Naples.

28. — Visited Pompeii and Herculaneum.

29. — Saw and ascended Vesuvius.

30. — Sailed to Capri and saw the "Blue Grotto." At night slept in
the Hotel Tasso.

May 2. — Started from Naples and bade farewell to the south of
Italy.

3. — Anniversary of my mother's death. May I never forget it, and
hallow her memory and love, for a mother's love is eternal. Left
Civita Vecchia in the evening for Leghorn.

4. — Reached Leghorn early in the morning. Went ashore to Pisa.
Returned in time to take the boat for Genoa.

5. — Found ourselves in Genoa harbor.

6. — Started for Arona, the southern point of Maggiore, and passed
through Alessandria. Stayed in Arona.

7. — Went to Luino on a cloudy day up Maggiore. From Luino to
Lugano, across the lake and then to Como.

8. — Went up and down the lake and back to Milan.

11. — Started for Chiavenna. Left Chiavenna and crossed the
Spliigen Pass. Slept and rode all night in a Swiss diligence.

13. — Crossed Lake Constance and kept on to Munich.

16. — Started for and reached Heidelberg, received letters, read
them and then got a room. 6y Hauptstrasse.

17. — Attended church with Bartlett. From to-day for one week I
have scarcely done a thing except write letters. My mind is off study.

He wrote two excellent articles for the Christian Advocate,
on Easter in Rome, and on Old Rome, while he tarried for a

90 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

month or more in Heidelberg, whose natural and literary at-
tractions hold him in leash until with fresh vigor he starts
first for a Rhine trip and a little later for the Alps. Of his
enchantment with the scenery of the place, where he had in-
tended to matriculate and take lectures regularly, and of his
consequent delay in beginning his attendance at the university
until it was too late to go to more than a very few and to these
only as a visitor, he makes his naive confession in his Life and
Literature in the Fatherland.'

Heidelberg, May 18, 1857.
To Miss La Monte :

I have a nice pair of rooms, as nice as I ever had in my life. They
are just what I wished. I can look from my bedroom upon the old
castle. This town is good for my health. I don't mean to say that I
have poor health now, but that it will be a great thing for my
constitution.

June 7. — Heidelberg is a very little place, as you can see from the
picture. I have drawn a mark on what I believe is the very house I
live in. Another place which I have marked is called the Molkenkur,
and, although it is not the highest of the peaks, yet I think it far the
most beautiful. I often go up there and sit an hour or two at the
close of the day. Then I can hear the music from the castle below,
and look to the west where the Neckar and the Rhine unite in that
charming vale, and toward where I cannot see, but where I can love
my own dear friends at home.

I anticipate no little pleasure in going up the Rhine. My studies
will necessarily be very much broken in upon. Here I have lost
considerable by not getting back sooner from Italy. My tour along
the Rhine will take me a couple of weeks. Then after that is over I
must start for Switzerland on a pedestrian tour; from there to Paris,
to London — home. I think it would be better to see these countries
than to go home without doing — it would be to me a source of con-
stant regret to do so, and in traveling one gets what he could never
learn in his room. I shall have done all I could expect by October.
I shall have gained a knowledge of the German language, besides a
fair idea of Italian, some experience in speaking the French, to say
nothing of the Hebrew which I studied last winter in Halle and the
substance matter of the lectures, as well as the customs, manners,

1 See p. 116.

At Heidelberg 91

and conditions of the country and people I shall have seen. That, I
think, ought to be a source of gratification to me. I am thankful that
I have been able to do as I have. It will always be a source of
pleasure and profit to me, and I trust to you. Neither of us should
regret it.

Heidelberg is more like a watering place than a German village,
and this takes away a great deal of the enjoyment that I would have.

June 8. — Almost every morning I get up at seven or thereabouts
and walk to the castle. The birds sing cheerily, and everything is
fresh and pleasant. By the way, we have nightingales here. Did
you ever hear them sing ? Professor Hundeshagen is very clever
and kind to me. How much I want to see my own land again ! I
could stay much longer in Europe and to advantage, but I am eager
to get home, and I feel sometimes as if I would get right up and start
to-morrow. My heart and feelings all prompt me to it.

These bright days in Heidelberg brought again to his hand
his coy muse, and from his six stanzas on Heidelberg Castle
this is the third :

I see that castle as I write,

I see its statues resting there,
Each represents an armored knight

Who fights for faith and lady fair.
Since knightly days has love grown purer?
O, is it true that hearts are truer?

June 23. — Left Heidelberg for Worms. Saw tree under which
Luther slept. Then went to Mainz. Walked in the Anlage and visited
the summer theater.

24. — Saw the house where printing was invented. Went to
Wiesbaden and saw the gaming. Went in afternoon to Kreuznach.

25. — Left Mainz and stopped at "Bingen on the Rhine." Returned
to Bingen about dusk.

26. — Walked to Niederwald and Rudesheim. Returned to Bingen
and took boat for Goarshausen. Walked up the Lurlei, and there I
prayed.

27. — Went to the Reichenberg and returned over the hill opposite
Rheinstein. Visited Rheinstein in Saint Goar and went on to Boppard
and there I stayed all night.

28. — Took first boat to Coblenz. Met an Englishman at Ehren-
breitstein.

29. — Walked to Ems. ■

92 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

Haarlem, Holland, July 5.
To Miss La Monte:

I have had a very pleasant time since leaving Coblenz. You must
read that part of Childe Harold referring to the Rhine. I have seen
and stood on every hill and by every place that is mentioned.

July 23. — Left Heidelberg for Freiburg.

24. — Walked from Freiburg to Hof, and rode in diligence to
Schaffhausen.

25. — Saw Schaffhausen and Falls of the Rhine, and then went to
Zurich.

26. — Attended English church, went bathing, and walked up to
LTetliberg.

27. — Walked from Uetliberg to Albis, where I took breakfast.
From there to Zug. Crossed Zug to Arth. Ascended the Rigi — a
big day's work.

28. — From Rigi down to Lucerne. With Paton called on Bryant,
the poet, and family.

29. — Crossed the Lake of Lucerne to Fliielen, passed Tell's Chapel
and the place where he shot the apple from his son's head. Slept that
night in Goschenen.

30. — Crossed the Gothard Pass to Hospenthal. Slept that night on
the Furka.

31. — Passed the Rhone Glacier and took breakfast at its foot.
Walked to Grimsel and spent four hours on the Aar Glacier. Slept
in Guttannen.

August I. — Ascended the Reichenbach Fall and walked on the
Rosenlaui Glacier. Slept on the Great Scheidegg.

2. — Witnessed the Swiss peasants' Schwingfest. Ascended the
Faulhorn. Grand scenes.

3. — Came down and took breakfast in Grindelwald. Parted with
Paton and Dale at the Little Scheidegg, where I spent the night.

His next two weeks covered a stop at Interlaken and sail
up and down Lakes Thun and Brienz : walks over Gemmi Pass,
to Zermatt, over Saint Theodule to Chatillon, to Courmajeur,
to Chamouny, and to Geneva. Eight days he was in Geneva.
He says, "So charming was Geneva that I felt like spending
all my days there." Two weeks he gave to Paris, and thence
by Rouen to Havre and London. Here he tarried eight days

A Pioneer Student 93

and then to Oxford (one day), by rail to Warwick, on foot
to Stratford-on-Avon (night), back to Warwick Castle; then
a walk with heavy pack to Kenilworth Castle and a ride to
Birmingham (September 24). Thence he goes to Manchester
and, after a short trip in Scotland, leaves Glasgow on the
Edinburgh, October 3. On the homeward voyage he reads
Noctes Ambrosianae.

William Wells of the laity and Wrilliam F. Warren of the
ministry were probably the only Methodists from America who
preceded him in European study. Dr. Buttz says :

Bishop Hurst's visit to Europe in 1856-57 was of the utmost value
to himself and the church. He was among the pioneers of our
Methodist scholars in Germany and in foreign travel. In his inten-
tion to go to Germany at that time he showed a discrimination of
the importance of contact with the world which was of great value
to him in his subsequent life, and it gave him the outlook which
produced his work on the History of Rationalism, and undoubtedly
tended to enlarge his view of the value of literature and theological
thought which manifested itself in his numerous and valuable con-
tributions to the literature of the church. I think it was also very
valuable farther in the fact that it enlarged his appreciation of the
educational work in which he afterward took so prominent a place.
It seems to me his going abroad at that time and his experiences were
the foundation of much of the most valuable services which he
rendered the church.

04 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

XXII

The Itinerant

Two Months of Busy Waiting. — Preaching "Under the Elder." — Head-
quarters at Mechanicsburg

Upon his arrival at home his conviction that he should enter
the ministry of the gospel, which had ripened into a clear call to
that high vocation, led him to seek for a field where he might
find employment for the gifts and graces which many leaders
of the church saw and knew to be his. The Rev. Dr. Jesse T.
Peck, then a pastor in Xew York, took a personal interest in
the young man from " Piney Neck," and wrote to Pennell
Coombe, a presiding elder of the Philadelphia Conference, on
October 21 :

It gives me pleasure to introduce to you the bearer, Brother John
F. Hurst, a graduate of Dickinson College, who has just returned
from a year's study and travel in Europe. He is now ready, if
Providence favor, to enter the ministry and prefers Philadelphia
Conference. I knew him well in college and have great confidence
in him and expect a very useful life from him in the great itinerant
field.

After a short visit to Charlotteville he hastens to Cam-
bridge, where he preached his first sermon, December 6, 1857,
at the Methodist Episcopal church, from Psa. 130. 7, "The
Hope of Israel." He had some notes, but was so confused he
could not see them, and so they proved more of a hindrance
than a help. This text he used afterward on three occasions :
his first sermon on Carlisle Circuit, at New Cumberland, Penn-
sylvania, on January 3. 1858; at Mechanicsburg. January 4,
and at Irvington. New Jersey, October 24. He writes to Miss
La Monte from Baltimore, on November 4:

A Busy Waiting 95

In New York I met Dr. McClintock on the street and on a pressing
invitation I called on him. We spent an hour or two of pleasant
conversation. He is anxious for me to join the New Jersey Con-
ference, and promised his assistance, which I told him he might
use for me.

And again from Cambridge on November 14:

It may be that I give a course of lectures here in Cambridge, but
still I am not sure. In case I have sufficient encouragement to do so,
I will commence next week. My friends all say without exception
that I have grown fat and well-looking. Now, I don't want you to
infer that they think me good-looking. Sallie says I have grown
ugly and fat; now I could stand that, but when she says I have the
German brogue I think that is too much for my good nature. Now,
have I any German brogue? I don't believe you will acknowledge
that. I visited a few days ago the little village schoolhouse where I
went to school six or seven years. It looked very much smaller than
it used to look — it is like a little cocoanut-shell. I saw the pictures I
cut on the benches a long while ago — I would have recognized them
had it been in China. Now, don't laugh when I tell you about cutting
pictures. You said my picture of the old church in Coventry was
like a cat. Now, wasn't that a compliment? You really didn't do me
justice.

How his pen had already acquired the busy habit is seen
from parts of these two letters to Miss La Monte, from
Cambridge :

November 23. — I have been writing in fits and starts since I came
here. If I give a course of lectures, as I may do, then I shall be all
ready. I have three long ones already done. I shall write no more
on the course until I know whether or not I give them.

November 26. — I am writing some every day, first Memories of the
Rhine, and then something else of my own experience. I do not
want these things to escape my memory. I have never known what
it is until recently to have good health.

His correspondence in December gives us some interesting
items concerning his last month of waiting for an opening.
To Miss La Monte he writes from Cambridge on the eighth :

96 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

I have great difficulty in finding a vacancy in the New Jersey and
Philadelphia Conferences. I cannot tell as yet where I shall go. I
am in a great difficulty about the matter, and were it not for the
climate I should regret that I had not accepted a professorship in
Charlotteville Seminary. But God does all things well. I have an
invitation from Dr. Collins to come to Carlisle and talk over matters.

Carlisle, Pa., 14. — From here I shall go to Philadelphia in all
probability, and if a vacancy can be found in the New Jersey Con-
ference I shall get it. I am now ready for work once more. Did I
tell you that I preached in Cambridge before I left, on " Let Israel
Hope in the Lord " ?

Carlisle, 16.
To Dr. William La Monte:

I expect to commence preaching on this District in January; but I
will write particulars to Kate in a few days.

Washington, D. C, 17.
To Miss La Monte:

I have taken or at least promised to take a place on the Carlisle
Circuit, to preach. The town of Carlisle is not embraced in the
circuit; that is a station, and I think the circuit by no means a
pleasant post to fill ; but it will only be for a while.

His Journal and contemporary letters give glimpses of the
external circumstances and internal battles, with more victories
than defeats, of the young preacher while he was undergoing
the process of " breaking in " within the bounds of the newly
formed East Baltimore Conference :

January 1, 1858. — In Philadelphia on way to Mechanicsburg.
Talked in La Pierre Hotel with an old traveler and had much
pleasure from it. Came near missing the train. Thoughts on
Heaven and Hell.

2. — Rode during the night to Harrisburg — went to market early in
morning — went to Mechanicsburg — found Reese Marlatt and my
future colleagues Norris and Dunlap — like them very much.
Quarterly meeting. Put up at Dr. Day's.

3. — Attended quarterly meeting. Spoke in love feast, and had a
good time — told my experience. Had communion after Dr.
Dougherty's sermon. Afternoon took horse and rode down to New

A Circuit Preacher 97

Cumberland. Preached at night to an attentive and large congrega-
tion, from "Let Israel Hope in the Lord." Had pretty good freedom.

4. — Walked around New Cumberland and became acquainted with
a number of people. Returned to Mechanicsburg and preached at
night with but little freedom because I had less faith. Had quite a
number at altar, but it was owing to Norris's exhortation. God give
me faith next time.

5. — At night had a glorious time — about twelve at the altar.
Talked with a great many of the careless young men — one promised
to come to the altar. Felt a peace of God in my heart which makes
me feel good again like old times.

6. — Good meeting at night. Talked with a good many of the
careless.

Dr. Day loaned him a saddle horse for his use on the thirty-
mile circuit. The record is that the horse put in as hard a three
months' service as was good for him, and that the splendid
animal needed a vacation at its close.

7. — Preached at night with more faith and liberty than I had ever
experienced before — text, "The Prodigal Son." Had a few mourners
— supplicated with many to come — young men too, but they would
not come.

8. — Slept but little overnight. Did me good to hear that I had
preached acceptably.

9. — Made preparation to start out on a long horseback ride — Norris
with me. We went to Coover's and dined, then went down to Lis-
burn, name of the town from Lizzy Burn, who gave a graveyard to
the place. Stopped at Lloyd's. Preached on Prodigal Son — felt more
than satisfied with my high and holy calling. Life's a joy when you
lead it right.

10. — Started early in the morning for Lewisburg. Preached on
the Samaritan Woman — did better than I had any right to expect —
felt well during the exercises. Had good dinner and started for
Wellsville. Preached on the Samaritan Woman — felt freedom.

11. — Felt greatly rejoiced when one of the young workmen told
me that he had been thinking a good deal on what I had said the
other night on the Christian living a separate life from the sinner.
Did me good. Led class in evening and had a good one.

12. — Ride home — fourteen miles. Norris preached — fifteen mourn-
ers at the altar. Felt sleepy, but talked some to the mourners.

13. — Wrote on sermon nearly all day. At night talked to the sin-
8

98 John Fletcher Hurst — A BiOGRArnv

ners. "I guess you know who I am," said a sinner who was con-
verted and who promised me to come to the altar a week ago. Had
a good deal of faith. Prayed a loud prayer at meeting after sermon.

To Miss La Monte he wrote on January 14:

I have reason to feel encouraged by what I have done so far,
although I see that I have yet a great deal to do and struggle for. I
find that the horseback riding helps me amazingly. My colleagues
are both very fine fellows and good preachers. I am perfectly
delighted with them both and would consider it lucky if I could have
such ones next year, but I intend to leave this Conference and join
New Jersey Conference.

14. — In evening preached on "Awake, Awake, O Arm of the Lord,"
in Mechanicsburg. Had liberty.

16. — Wrote some on "Rationalism." Started with Norris and
Lippincott for Papertown, stopping at Boiling Springs.

17. — Papertown. Slept with Norris. Both woke up with sore
throats and hard colds. Preached on "Living Waters." Hadn't much
freedom — throat, bad cold, and want of faith all had share in failure.

18. — Ate oysters after service with Norris — had a real good time.
What a world of sorrow oysters can hide !

19. — Attended church at night — three mourners at the altar. Two
men drunken in the church — led them both out.

20. — Preached at night on " The Value of the Soul " — had liberty,
but a sore throat — was told by Norris sermon was a good one.

21. — Read some in History of Rationalism. Had much peace in
God. God blesses me and I feel and know it.

24. — Woke early in morning thinking about preaching. Preached
on "Worship God." A great deal of feeling was manifested, and it
was decidedly the best sermon I have preached. The Spirit of the
Lord was with me.

25. — Zug said rode his horse too fast. Had several intimations that
I had improved in preaching. Afternoon wrote some and read on
Rationalism. The Lord help me to make a good article for the
Quarterly on that subject.

26. — Started for Carlisle. Dinner with Bishop Waugh. Heard
Bishop Waugh talk to new converts and preach afterward from the
"Jailer." Called on to pray — failed because of no faith.

27. — Traveled with Bishop Waugh and Dorsheimer to Mechanics-

Licensed to Preach 99

29. — Am getting gradually initiated into the ways and doings of
the Methodists.

30. — Dillstown. Preached at night on "Revive Thy Work." In-
vited mourners to the altar — none came, but I believe the Lord will
bless and revive us and his work in this place.

31. — Went at nine to love feast — Father Bennett officiated. I spoke
and the Lord blessed me.

February 4. — Read assiduously all day. Had but little faith during
day, and could not pray as much as I wished to — the devil still holding
me by the ears by pride. Retired to my room and tried earnestly to
have faith, but not much of it had I. Went to church and experienced
some pleasure and pain by talking to young men. Lord, help me to
get some of them on a good track.

Mechanicsburg, February 5.
To Miss La Monte:

I expect, if God permit, to join the Newark Conference in April.
I think my chances for success are better there. I would perhaps
join the Baltimore Conference, as I have had flattering offers al-
ready, but that Conference will not admit me on as favorable circum-
stances as one farther north. I think you must have a strange idea
of riding a circuit on horseback — now, that is a capital plan — I only
wish you could see me on a good horse. I tell you the boys clear the
track when "the preacher is coming'' !

6. — Fiddled and fooled around town till dinner. Rode down to
Lisburn with Brother Dunlap and heard him preach on "Seek the
Lord while he may be found." I exhorted afterward. Felt well —
had liberty, as Norris says.

7. — Preached on "Worship God," but had not so much liberty as I
could have wished — it is all of faith. Rode back to Lisburn — blessed
on the road — the Lord gave me liberty at night on "Lord, Revive
Thy Work." Some sinners were convicted.

8. — Visited a poor consumptive young man. He was a lesson to
sinners. I prayed with him and consoled him to the best of my
ability. Evening preached, and here saw first the labors crowned
with success — three souls struggling for liberty.

10. — Mechanicsburg. Went to Carlisle and there passed my ex-
amination for license to preach and recommendation to traveling
connection. Passed a fair one. When I retired for the stewards to
vote on my case, A. A. Reese, the elder, remarked that he "thought
there was a preach in me." Lord, grant it, and make it possible !

11. — Started late in afternoon to Lisburn. Preached with liberty

-•.. -

ioo John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

on "For every man shall bear his own burden." The Lord gave me
liberty, and three mourners were at the altar.

12. — Read and wrote and had a great deal of faith. Norris
preached at night from "What will you say?" A good sermon. Four
mourners at the altar.

13. — Worked hard and finished Beranger.

14. — Rode to Lisburn in the snow. Shivered and shook after get-
ting to Costello's. Preached tolerably. In afternoon back to
Coover's, and preached same sermon on "Arise, young man !" Very
little faith in the people or myself.

Mechanicsburg, February 15.
To Miss La Monte:

I have reason to think I am acceptable here in my efforts to please
God and save souls. They are anxious for me to return here after
Conference, and, were it not that young preachers can't get married
in this Conference, T think I should join it. I fear one farther north
will not agree so well with my health. Poor Bishop Waugh is dead !
I had a railroad ride with him only a few days before his death. He
was ready to die. No one could be with him ten minutes without
feeling and seeing that he was as fit for heaven as any man who
lives on earth. A few days ago I stood my examination for admit-
tance into Conference. How unworthy I feel in entering upon the
responsible work of the ministry. May God give me a Christian
heart and a fervent devotional spirit.

18. — Preached in Lisburn on "Her ways are ways of pleasantness."
Not much liberty. Two converted — three at altar. God help the
last one !

20. — Lewisburg. Preached at night to a good audience on "Lord,
Revive Thy Work." Not much liberty. The Lord gave me some
faith, however.

24. — Studied in Watson's Institutes until 1 o'clock.

25. — Read 34 pages in Watson's Institutes, and a little in Fisk's
Travels. O, how glorious a thing it is to feel the truth growing and
bedding itself in the mind. Lord, give the truth a big taproot.

Mechanicsburg, February 25.
To Miss La Monte :

Our two preachers are going to Conference in a few days, and at
their request and that of the church I will remain here until they
return from Conference. I consented, though I fear it will interfere
with my visiting the Eastern Shore before going into New Jersey.

The Itinerant ioi

I was just looking over my dry bones (skeletons), and find that I
have preached just twenty-one times and have eleven complete
skeletons all jointed, varnished, and hung up by the neck.

2J. — Lord, help me to set a good watchman on my lips.

March i. — Read in Upham's Interior Life; also in Moore's Lalla
Rookh, and Fletcher's Appeal.

2. — Read some in Watson. Wrote commencement on Rationalism.
Smoked at night — determined not to smoke until after dinner.

3. — Can't get mind fixed on prayer as I pray. Lord, help me to
conquer all my difficulties.

7. — Lisburn. Rode to Lewisburg. Preached with not much liberty
on "Christian Army." Rode to Wellsville. Preached on "Christian
Army."

9. — Mechanicsburg. Wrote until dark on Rationalism.

10. — Before going to bed felt an unusual trust in God.

11. — Wrote all morning on Rationalism. May it be useful and tell
the truth.

12. — Went in evening to Harrisburg and heard Everett lecture on
the character of Washington. May we imitate him ! Coming home
had an accident and narrow escape from falling in the river.

13. — Packed up to leave.

14. — Preached last sermon in Mechanicsburg on "War a Good
Warfare." Tried to do something and had a complete failure.
Chagrin, disgust, thoughts of failing possessed my heart and harrowed
up the soul within me. Lectured a little while at Sunday school, and
in evening at prayer meeting. The Lord give me freedom.

Cambridge, March 19 or 20.
To Miss La Monte:

I know not what sort of a place I shall get — perhaps a circuit, per-
haps a little station. The Lord can do with me as he chooses. I am
in his hands and try to be willing to labor in whatever place he
pleases. I am writing with a gold pen which was given me before
leaving Mechanicsburg. It is a very nice gold pen and pencil, and I
think more of it than I would of a suit of clothes.

He preached on Carlisle Circuit thirty-four sermons from
eleven texts, in eleven weeks, at nine different places, as fol-
lows: New Cumberland once, Mechanicsburg six times, Lis-
burn eight times, Lewisburg six times, Wellsville twice, Paper-

102 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

town twice, Dillstown five times, Bethel three times, Boiling-
Springs once. During these eleven weeks of circuit riding he
traveled on horseback one hundred and eighty-four miles, and
used these eleven subjects and texts :

The Hope of Israel, Psa. 130. 7, twice;

The Prodigal Son, Luke 15. 18, four times;

The Samaritan Woman, John 4. 14, four times;

Awake, Arm of the Lord, Isa. 51.9, three times ;

Value of the Soul, Matt. 16. 26, three times;

Worship of One God, Exod. 20. 3, five times ;

Revival of God's Work, Hab. 3. 2, three times ;

Personal Responsibility, Gal. 6. 5, three times;

Young Man, Arise, Luke 7. 14, twice;

Pleasantness of Wisdom's Ways, Prov. 3. 17, once;

The Good Warfare, 1 Tim. 1. 18, four times.

At Irvington 103

XXIII
The Pastor

At Irvington

Of his reception into the Newark Conference, his introduc-
tion to his first pastorate at Irvington, a village just south of
Newark, and his experiences there, as well as in the four other
pastorates which followed, his own Journal and letters tell very
nearly all the story :

March 15, 1858. — Mechanicsburg. Made some calls for last time.
Took morning train for Baltimore. Slept at Maltby House.

16. — Bonnie Brook. Started from Baltimore at 7. Retired early
and slept superbly.

20. — Read in evening Homer and his translators. Lord, give me
strength of body and mind.

25. — Philadelphia. Started early from Bonnie Brook by stage for
Bridgeville. Enjoyed rest very much at Saint Lawrence Hotel.

26. — Newark. Started in 10 a. m. train for the unknown town of
Newark. Finished Oliver Twist on the road. May it be of use to
me. Went to Presiding Elder J. S. Porter. Found him a blunt, per-
haps warm-hearted man.

March 26.
To Miss La Monte:

Here I am in Newark — I found the Presiding Elder of the Newark
District first. He is a very kind, clever man — I was surprised to find
him a Marylander by birth. What is more singular, he knew my
father and all my friends long before I can remember.

I have not been so well since I left Pennsylvania. I had a dreadful
cold in Maryland and still feel the effects of it. The wind blows
strongly here this morning and my right lung pains me some little. I
trust it will be all right. I would not like a return of my old complaint
which used to trouble me before going to Europe.

27. — Rose early. All morning wrote on sermon for Sunday.
28. — Walked a long way to West Broad Street Mission and en-
joyed love feast. Preached to a small congregation. Had consider-

104 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

able liberty. Brother Porter, P. E., behind me. He gave me but
little encouragement to join the Conference.

29. — Received $10 for article on Tholuck — the first money ever re-
ceived for anything I have written.

30. — Rode to Morristown.

31. — Morristown. Was benefited and improved from seeing the
Conference proceedings for first time.

April 1. — Went to Conference and attended closely to all the pro-
ceedings.

2. — Attended Conference. Admitted. May I never be otherwise as
long as breath warms my body !

5. — Irvington. Conference adjourned in morning. I was on the
tiptoe of expectation until my name was read off for Irvington. I
thank God for the appointment, and pray to him that I may be useful
here. Came on to Irvington and strolled over the town. Called on
some of the members. Pleased with the church amazingly.

6. — Called on a great many persons.

April 7.
To Miss La Monte :

I have some fear as to my health ; my appetite is good, but I cannot
say that I have reason to think I shall be vigorous and strong. This
year will decide with me whether I shall succeed beyond the shadow
of doubt or not — I mean in case of health and strength.

9. — Slight pains in right lung.

11. — In the morning preached my first sermon in Irvington, on
" Justification by Faith," and I believe the Lord strengthened me.

12. — Commenced to read prayerfully Clarke's Commentary through.

17. — Had power in praying with some of the families.

19. — Low-spirited and but little life and ambition.

21. — Read in Augustine's Confessions, and in Pascal's Pensees.

25. — Greatly blessed in my room. Preached with some liberty from
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me." South Orange (p. m.),
preached on "Faith." Had a good time. The people shouted
"Amen."

27. — Keep up my regular hours in reading Clarke's Commentary,
two hours a day.

30. — Love of God still warming my unworthy heart.

May I. — Had great satisfaction in reading Thomas a Kempis's
Imitation of Christ.

4. — Evening. Some liberty, and I foolishly called on a young man
to exhort, who talked a long while without any effect.

At Irvington 105

7. — An old lady, Sister Eaton, told me some of my pulpit errors.
She seemed to know more about preaching than I did. I know but
little. Help those who are worse than I.

9. — Ten persons baptized.

13. — Met Brother Vincent (John H.), former pastor of the church.
Pleased with him.

15. — Talked with Vincent until late during night.

16. — Six joined church — two on probation — four by certificate.

May 17.
To Miss La Monte :

I would rather be the humble instrument in God's hands of leading
one soul to repentance than be Napoleon. I expect to preach as long
as my health will allow, and when I can't preach it seems to me I
would rather the Lord would call me to live with him.

18. — Had a sermon from Vincent — five persons rose for prayers.

19. — Loath to bid Vincent "Good-bye."

23. — Strong joy all day. Somebody must be praying for me.

26. — Practiced nearly two hours as usual in reading aloud and get-
ting sound of words. Will it ever be that I can enunciate correctly ?

27. — Manumitted Tom and sent papers to Cambridge.

29. — Received proof sheets for piece on Beranger. Lord, help my
writing to be useful to my fellow men.

May 29.
To Miss La Monte :

I am trying to learn a number of new things — one is to talk to
children in Sunday school. I find it a difficult thing to combine the
interesting and the useful. Now, don't laugh — I am going to take
lessons in vocal music. I think it will be of use to me in more ways
than one.

June I. — Three young ladies converted at our prayer meeting.

2. — In evening went up to see C , and found him a converted

man.

4. — In evening commenced notes of Life of Luther.

7. — Ilsley, the music teacher, told me it was doubtful whether I
could ever learn to sing. But, by the help of God, I will learn to sing
and preach too.

On this day he wrote to his former senior preacher, Richard
Norris :

io6 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

I find the ministers and laity much more warm-hearted than I ex-
pected, and, unless something that I can by no means foresee should
happen, I shall spend my life in this Conference. There were 41
members when I came here, since then I have taken in seven more;
and last week four more persons have professed conversion. The
most of my members were women, but we have been making havoc
in the devil's ranks by managing to get some of their husbands con-
verted. Three prominent, wealthy, and influential men have joined
us in the short time that I have been here. By the blessing of God
there is new life in the members. There is a regular Universalist
preaching or lecturing here, an Arian or Unitarian church, a Meth-
odist, and Dutch Reformed.

11. — Wrote lines on Bethlehem for my Palestine class.
15. — Had a largely attended prayer meeting — two at the altar and
two rose for prayer.

To Miss La Monte : ■*

My teacher says if I have patience I will yet learn to sing. I know
you laugh at my taking singing lessons, but I'll laugh at you if you
don't ride well. Yesterday our choir made three mistakes — say, I am
not getting to be a critic !

To Miss La Monte :

Yesterday I preached the two poorest sermons I have as yet under-
taken to preach. I sometimes think I will give up. It seems to me
that my tour in Europe is of more real use to me than all my other
life put together.

29. — Read Manfred with beans in my mouth. Now I understand
why Demosthenes practiced articulation in a cave. The beans made
me open my throat.

To Miss La Monte : J X 5-

Last evening I preached in Clinton Street Church. I had had but
little sleep on Saturday night, and my Sunday school labors were
equal to a sermon, and by the time night came I was not only hoarse,
but had a severe headache. Preaching, I suppose, will never go
easily with me. It will always make me nervous.

July 8. — The huge dimensions of my lips with my bronchial throat
may, after all my labors, debar all great progress in oratory. But I
shall strive on. "Genius is labor." If the man who said that told the
truth, then, by the help of God, I'll be a genius, I hope.

At Irvington 107

Dickinson College on this date conferred upon him the
degree of Master of Arts.

10. — Some gleams of light from God's throne shot down into the
gloomy caverns of my soul. Help me to preach thy word with power.

July 12.
To Miss La Monte :

I have had a severe difficulty with one of our new converts. He
was too self-conceited, and his religion or professed religion did not
seem to take away any of his egotism. He had shown it several
different ways, and a short time ago he began to tell me that my
management of the church was not right. It was more than I could
stand without reproof. He went off and told egregious falsehoods,
whether intentional or not I will not say, about me. They circulated
around pretty freely, but I trust they will not injure the cause of
Christ to any extent appreciable. I find it my greatest difficulty to
conquer my own evil nature. I used to think before I became a
minister that I would have less of the troubles of life; but my severest
conflicts have been since I have been trying to serve God in my
present calling.

16. — My voice is a great perplexity. I have broken myself, or I
think so, from talking and speaking whiningly through my nose.
Then, I spoke throaty, and I believe by using green grapes in my
mouth I have partially broken myself of that. When shall I get to
speak clear, sonorous, heart-searching words right from my lung?'
cellar and basement?

18. — Lord, make me useful, and give me a hand in tearing down
some of the brazen doors of Satan's hundreds of Bastilles.

22. — I have received some valuable hints from Stevens's Preaching
Required by the Times.

July 26.
To Miss La Monte :

I preached in the morning at Chatham, from "The Choice of
Moses." After church I went home with a man (Jacobus) four
miles in the country and preached in afternoon in a tent which stands
beside a church now in process of erection (Livingston). In the
evening I preached again, and with more acceptation than at any
time during the day. I wound up with a severe headache and nervous-
ness. I fear I shall never get over my nervousness. It must be the
remains of my Italian accident. My paper on Beranger is not a deep
piece — I have contempt for such writing. I would rather write a

io8 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

page so that everybody can understand me than to write a dozen
folios of hieroglyphics.

August 5. — In afternoon read Carlyle's Hero Worship. There are
gems of truth in all Carlyle's mud.

j. — I feel very unwell and have done so for six weeks. If I can get
a check cashed I will go away.

To Miss La Monte : August 8.

I preached with feeling, although I could hardly stand up. You
must have prayed for me.

10. — Went to Long Branch and remained until August 19.

To Miss La Monte : LoNG Branch, August 16.

I am better than when I left Irvington — I have now a good ap-
petite, but my head aches whenever I attempt to read or write.

17. — A gloomy birthday at Long Branch. I would like to read
Macaulay's England through again. I mean the first two volumes,
and for the first time the last two. This would improve my style.
Then I would like to study Tacitus, Livy, Xenophon, closely. Let it
be my life to be instrumental in converting souls and writing a good
church history — which shall show God's hand in the development of
Christianity. God help me, but shall I live ?

To Miss La Monte: Irvington, N. J., August 22.

I do not think my visit to Long Branch has done me much good.
It was a relief from study, but my headache returned yesterday with
redoubled severity. The doctor thinks it occurs from my severe
accident in Italy, together with overtaxed brain.

26. — It peels me to be criticised, but the Lord will help me. O Lord,
deliver me from my faults.

To Miss La Monte: August 29.

I am glad to say that I am better now than when I wrote you last,
but I am far from well. I haven't the severe headache I had, but am
weak. I preached this morning with but little power. I fear the
people went to their homes but little profited and interested. What
a melancholy sometimes seizes my mind ! O Kate, let us fly fre-
quently to the outstretched arms of our dear Redeemer.

September 2. — Mr. Ilsley, my teacher, says I can yet learn how to

At Irvington 109

sing. Perhaps I will. Have thought a great deal over consecrating
my property as well as my mind to the cause of God. I owe the
Lord at least a tithe. Have I been asleep?

3. — Went to see Brown, an elocution professor in New York. He
says I have great faults to be remedied. Engaged to take lessons
from him at $20 for 15 lessons. My music and elocution lessons will
conflict with my purse, but what accomplishes me helps to save souls,
I trust.

8. — Went into the woods and practiced elocution.

10. — Committed Quarrel of Brutus and Cassius for elocution prac-
tice.

13. — Took music lessons. My teacher, Mr. Ilsley, said it would
be lost time for me to try to study vocal music — that I had neither
voice nor ear. If 1 live, ask in ten years if I have a voice. I paid
him his charge for 9 lessons, $5.63, and left him.

16. — Took elocution lesson of Mr. Brown in New York. I feel
that it is in me to make an effective speaker. Nobody believes it, but
I do believe by the blessing of God I shall be able to influence an
audience in course of time.

17. — Practiced on Hamlet's Soliloquy, and Spartacus's Address to
the Gladiators at Capua. My voice seems to have increased in power.

19. — In morning preached on "Sabbath Day" with more preparation
than liberty.

20. — Bought old Herbert's poems.

21. — Read a little in Aurora Leigh. . . . Poor people have more
in them than the world thinks.

September 23.
To Miss La Monte :

I have just come from a first-rate prayer meeting. It was in a
private family. I have a public church prayer meeting on Tuesday
evening, on Wednesday evening I have a class meeting, and on
Thursday evening I have prayer meetings in different parts of my
charge in families. I find these last very successful and influential.
There is less of stiffness and reserve at them than there is at some
of the others, and altogether I think them more fraught with interest.

25. — Heard from my long-expected books in Halle. They are all
bound and are now on the way here. But what a bill ! — $253. I
only expected about $150. I feel badly about it, for it will interfere
materially with my plan for beneficence. Sawed some wood to-day.

26. — In afternoon I went to see a sick old bad man. He is serious
and convicted of sin. I believe thou wilt bless him, O Lord, for

no Toiin Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

thou wouldst never have convicted him unless thou hadst intended
his good.

October 3.
To Miss La Monte :

I was in Newark, October 1, at a missionary meeting where Rev.
S. L. Baldwin was ordained elder for the China Mission. We had an
address from Rev. F. Burns (colored). Bishop of Liberia. 1 confess
I did not like to see him rise and address a missionary meeting, but
so appropriate and correct was all he said that I considered his the
speech of the evening. That night, Friday night, I stayed with an
Englishman named Simpson. His wife has a great many of the
manuscripts and letters of the Wesleys. Coke, Fletcher, Watson,
Clarke, and other distinguished Methodist divines, as well as of other
noted men. I was interested with them very much.

October 4. — Spent an hour in Reeves's antiquarian bookstore over-
hauling old editions of Seneca. Bought a translation of Seneca.
Was much encouraged by my elocution master.

6. — Practiced elocution by reading Byron's Isles of Greece.

7. — Reached elocutionist before he was dressed. Had but little
spirit, but he encouraged me a great deal. I think it will terminate
in much good. I paid him $20 for twelve lessons. I wonder if I
ought not to have paid that amount to the missionary cause.

12. — Practiced declamation as usual. My throat seems to be a
little smoother than a nutmeg grater.

16. — It is my ambition and, by God's help, I shall make both a
speaker and a writer before I die.

17. — In evening preached to the young men from the text, "Where-
withal shall a young man cleanse his way ?" Had a good many young
men out. God bless every young man who heard me !

18. — Met to form a singing school under Mr. Ilsley, who said he
could not teach me anything.

20. — Have received the Memoirs and Remains of R. A. Vaughan.
Dr. Whedon has asked me to write a review of it. ... I believe
that the Lord will make a preacher yet of me, after all. Why do
I not sleep o' nights? I feel restless. I want in my half-conscious
dreams to be speaking before great audiences and enchanting multi-
tudes. Strange that I should have this constant thirst and so little
adaptation to satisfy it. The fangs of the adder are suited to his
nature; the teeth of the lion to his rapacity; the claws of the sloth
to his propensities and nature ; but should I, one of God's creatures,
too, have no adaptation of my powers to my thirst? The lawyer

At Irvington hi

can speak with boldness and efficiency before the jury of twelve for
his client. Why should I not be able to speak effectively before my
little church half full of people for my God? I will do it. If it is
in me it shall come out. It must come out.

26. — Why were thousands converted under the influence of White-
field and but half dozens under the preaching of many an obscure
pastor who was a better student ? There was a power of eloquence
and a power from heaven, a human and a divine power, united to
produce the marvelous effect. Now, Lord, I do trust thou wilt give
me both. I will do what I can toward getting the human. Wilt thou
not only increase that, but confer the divine?

28. — I think something will come from my throat yet. The head,
heart, throat, and tongue must harmonize to make me a successful
preacher.

30. — I do not use the pebbles in my mouth as much as I did.
I used to run my words together too much. Mr. Brown thinks I
now make too much of a pause between my words. This is the other
extreme.

November 1. — Mr. Brown says I am improving. I begin to think
there is not so much value in what he says. Yet my increasing con-
gregation says something. Wrote to my friend Paton. of Sheffield,
plans of writing an edition of Seneca. Attended stewards' meeting
at which two novelties happened — all there in time and their minister
overpaid.

November 1.
To Miss La Monte :

Yesterday I preached from the Ministry of Angels, and in evening
from Saint Paul's Conversion. I had an unusually good time. My
congregation was larger than it had been at all before. I think that,
though I fail sometimes, I shall succeed. I see not far ahead of us
a bright future — I thank God for the vision.

2. — I think I am improving in speaking. Freeman gave me an
idea, namely, speaking from my abdomen. I think I shall now be
able to try it, through his hint of getting a richness ; but dare I say
such a word of my voice?

7. — Preached a. m. on Faith and Works. My tongue was tied.
I stammered at times, but I got along; yet. if I had been one of the
congregation, I do think I would have left the church without having
felt that I had learned anything by coming.

8. — Mr. Brown says I am improving. I would rather see it — I mean
feel it. Still, my voice is not so much like a rasp as it was. The

ii2 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

words scraped against the sides of my throat six months ago like
a flint along a file.

9. — Wrote to Gould and Lincoln on Vaughan. I would like to edit
an edition of the young man's works.

11. — Hoarseness all the week. When God says so I can go no
farther. Until he says this I shall try to improve my throat. In
early life I lost many hours of improvement because I had no hope of
reaching twenty-one years of age. Lord, help me to improve moments
in thought. I find it so hard to think without my pen in my hand.

13. — Sent my critique on Studien und Kritiken to Dr. Whedon.

14. — Preached this morning on Religion and Education — Wisdom
and Knowledge shall be the stability of the times. I made a fist of
it — a dreadful fist. I hope I shall never keep people from reading,
or hearing, or visiting, by as unprofitable a sermon as this was.

15. — Saw Sheldon, Blakeman & Co. about editing Vaughan's Hours
with the Mystics.

November 15.
To Miss La Monte:

When I remember that I have been preaching nearly a year I
wonder that I have not improved myself more. But it takes time
for an acorn to make an oak — sometimes it dies in the ground.

November 21.
To Miss La Monte :

I preached on Thanksgiving Day and had a better congregation
than is usual on such occasions. I read my sermon, the first that I
have done since I have been here. I made Righteousness a crown
with three precious jewels set in it. These jewels were Prayer,
Patriotism, and Praise — and these were the branches of my subject.
I was more satisfied than I usually am.

22. — Started for home. Cold. Took Vaughan's Essays and Remains
with me, and slept at night in a dirty bed at Bridgeville.

He spent ten days at his sister's, "Bonnie Brook."

December 5. — My people really seemed glad to see me back again.
There is comfort in that.

December 15.
To Miss La Monte :

On Monday I read my Evangelism in Germany before Preachers'
Association. Some encomiums were heaped on it. What did me
good was that some of our older preachers thought well of it.

At Irvington 113

January 2, 1859. — Preached in evening on Joy in Heaven over One
Sinner that Repenteth. Decided on this text as sun was going down.
Never in such a fix before.

January 6.
To Miss La Monte :

Look not upon the gloomy and desponding side — God tells us to
hope. The stars shine it, the flowers teach it, the birds sing it, the
very sleigh bells, that I now hear ringing past my narrow window,
preach it.

7. — My voice is getting to be a little more manageable. I think
by the end of five years' constant labor I shall have been able to
improve it a great deal. If people with good voices would work on
them as much as I do with my bad one, we would have many a
Demosthenes, Cicero, and Chrysostom. Labor is intended for a rich
field as well as for a poor one.

9. — Preached on The Christian's Duty to the Sinner, in morning
— I Sam. 12. 24. Thought I made an awful fist of it; felt so badly
I could hardly conclude with prayer.

11. — Heard my sermon on Sunday morning very highly spoken of.
Why is it I am no judge of what I preach?

19. — I am endeavoring now to cultivate the low tones of my voice.
How complex a thing is the voice of man ! Of nine perfect tones,
but 17,592,186,044,515 different sounds; thus 14 muscles alone, or to-
gether, produce 16,383; thirty indirect muscles ditto 73,741,823; and
all in cooperation produce the number I have mentioned ; and these
independent of different degrees of intensity. What a power is in
the voice, if such is the number of tones of which it is capable !

January 27.
To Miss La Monte :

My health, I am thankful to God, has greatly improved. My pros-
pect of life and labor is now very good.

31. — Through labor much can be done. And this is not so much

the desperate efforts as the constant efforts. Be it mine to be doing

something with my grating diseased throat, every day. Practicing

some pieces in Shakespeare : Marullus to the Roman populace ; Marcus

Brutus on the death of Caesar; Mark Antony to the people on Caesar's

death. Have practiced these a great deal. I believe they have

assisted me, but the minister has more than mere excitement to help

him — he has the Holy Spirit.
9

H4 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

February 2.
To Miss La Monte :

My people are apparently anxious for me to remain with them. I
have never told them the greatest reason (for leaving), that I wish
to be married. I have given them one, that I think a young man
ought not to stay more than one year in a place, if he would improve.

7. — Worked on a review of last number of Studien und Kritiken
which Dr. Whedon requested of me. It was hard work indeed, for
no pay and no name. But it is all right if it does good.

8. — Worked a little on review of the Kritiken. It is hard work
to get sense out of what has but little. Why can't a German, if he
has thoughts, write them down so that people will read them ? Surely
it is worthy the language of Luther to frame it well.

10. — Preached in evening on "Awake, thou that sleepest" — not
much spirit manifested. One converted. That is worth a thousand
lives.

13. — Preached with tolerable liberty a Missionary Sermon. Felt
rejoiced when people gave about $50 — nearly double their custom.

16. — Concluded review of Hours with the Mystics and corrected
former part of it so as to get it into Dr. Whedon's hands at an early
date.

February 17.
To Miss La Monte :

I fear for my situation next year, not on my own account, for
wherever there is a congregation, there it is my business to go and
preach.

23. — Talked with Rev. Mr. McElvey (Dutch Reformed) this week
on the subject of eloquence. He says I speak too fast and made other
strictures, which, though not so pleasant, yet did not come with ill
feeling, but with kindness and I dare say with truth. He gave me
some hints which he seemed to think I had never heard of, but which
I well knew. He says he does not practice ; he thinks everybody ought
to exercise his voice as much as Vb hour every day. He little thought,
nor did I tell him, that he was talking with one who had spent
nearly 400 hours on his voice the past year.

February 24.
To Miss La Monte :

I shall soon leave here, I believe, respected and loved by my people
and congregation. To think that I have done some good will be
the pleasantest treasure I can bear away with me. In our prayer

At Irvington i 15

meeting last night one penitent was at the altar. I find the people,
many of them, strongly objecting to my leaving. A blacksmith, an
ignorant man and a member of no church, says he thinks he will
have to go to Conference and petition for me to return. This I
consider a compliment — the greatest one I have had from any source.
If the common people can understand me, I do feel that my labors
have been useful.

28. — Went to Astor Library and read Davies's Holland in prep-
aration for my lecture on Holland.

March 3.
To Miss La Monte :

I have been writing a lecture on Holland to deliver in this village.
It is one of a course by different persons. I have studied the matter
very closely, and, with the addition of my experience in that country,
I hope to give something of interest to-morrow evening. I have
just finished it — it will be over an hour long in the delivery. Either
it will be a very great bore or it will be something of a treat.

I have no idea of where I shall go after leaving here — perhaps back
in the mountains, though I do hope not, on your account as well as
my own. But I trust we shall not have to stay in the mountains long,
at any rate, should we even have to go there.

March 10.
To Miss La Monte :

Well, my lecture on Holland is over. I had a large and flattering
audience — the largest according to the weather that has been at any
of the lectures. It was highly spoken of, more so than I would like
to write you ; I would write you, but I know very well that you
would not burn it, even though I should request it.

March 17.
To Miss La Monte :

Last night, after I had taken tea with one of the most prominent
members, about eight o'clock in marched couple after couple until the
room was filled. Then commenced a speech to me by one of the men.
After finishing he handed me a purse "in the name of the ladies of
the church." I replied, of course, as they seemed to expect one. After
that we had music, refreshments, and a very pleasant time. The purse
was afterward counted and found to contain more than $50. Some-
times presents are made to ministers, which from the manner of doing
make him feel more like a beggar than otherwise. But this was done
well. I had a hint that something was on the carpet, but still I was
surprised. It affords me no little gratification to know that they wish

n6 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

me to return. In fact, I have had to defend my course every day
for three weeks now. But the people will not swallow what I say.

17. — Told Brother Porter I wanted to be married and wished a
married man's appointment. He talked pleasantly and assented.

26. — Had a surprise of a little storybook from two girls. They
wanted to give me something and knew not what better. I appre-
ciated it as if it had been a lost book of Livy.

On the twenty-seventh a class of ten girls gave him a copy
of Stevens's History of Methodism, in three volumes, "as a
memento of affection for one who cared for the 'Lambs of the
Flock.' "

28. — In looking back on the Conference year now ending I am
glad to see that the spiritual condition of the church is much better,
their benevolent contributions more than double, and their pastor's
salary seventy dollars ahead of the previous year. One of the greatest
things I have learned is to work, even though I cannot see success
ahead, as though it were there. The greatest acquisition of the year
is a taste for preaching. It goes very hard now sometimes, yet I
no longer look upon the ministry as below the other professions, but
now as the most honorable.

April 4. — Started for Conference this morning. Reached Haver-
straw and put up at the house of Leonard Gurnell — a very pleasant
home.

5. — To-day examined on Watson's Institutes, Wesley's Perfection,
geography, grammar, and sermon.

6. — Bishop Simpson looked very feeble, but I think many prayers
went up for his speedy restoration to good health. There was an
affecting time at the sacrament of the Lord's Supper.

7. — Conference proceedings were conducted in the calmest spirit of
Christian love.

9. — Walked up, with Dr. Crane and several others, the Great Thorn,
the mountain that rises back of Haverstraw — a beautiful view we had
of the Hudson and the fields back of the mountain.

11. — Appointments read out — mine at Passaic, Xew Jersey. Very
unfavorable reports of it, but still I hope to do some good there.
Slept but little. Not satisfied with appointment, but say nothing.
Hope to see the day when my appointment will depend less on the
dictum of elders and bishops than the will of the people. But God
knows what is right.

From daguerreotype, taken in 1859, soon after their marriage.

JOHN F. HURST AND CATHERINE F. (LA MONTE) HURST.

At Passaic 117

XXIV

At Passaic

April 13, 1859. — Find my new place small, neglected. The Meth-
odists in the background, the congregation a handful.

14. — Bad cold. — Fear that all my elocution lessons will do me
little good. But still I may have some power after all to do something
in the way of public speaking. During the last year I thought it
would be next to impossible for me to do anything but write a little,
yet I know not that either my tongue or pen will ever do anything
worth the world's remembrance. But as God will.

Passaic, N. J., April 14.
To Miss La Monte:

Though urged, I may say to the last, to return to Irvington, I still
refused and determined to take a married man's appointment. That
appointment is Passaic, a small village on the New York and Erie
Railroad, about twelve miles or a half-hour's ride from Jersey City.
There are not more than half the members here that I had at Irving-
ton, and in many other respects it is not so desirable a place to live at.
The church is not so neat, but equally as commodious. The place
is made up of the Dutch Reformed altogether. They have the power
and wealth. The parsonage adjoins the church. It is a neat little
house, much better than the parsonages of larger places. It is fur-
nished to a great extent. The latter part of week after next, or about
Tuesday the 3d of May, we will, if it suits you and we are spared,
be married. I want you to have as good a home as possible, but
I cannot promise you much in this place. We must get along as best
we can and hope for a better residence after leaving here. My salary
is not very large here — $400. I think you will be happy here.

17. — Preached in the morning to 38 people on the Ascension of
Christ. Sunday school, 30. Throat choky. Maybe that throat will,
after all, do nothing but guzzle down. I wish it may thrill up.

18. — At Dr. Howe's doing a mere nothing, not even thinking, or
reading, or scarcely living.

April 20.
To Miss La Monte :

To-day the former pastor has left the parsonage, and they have
commenced to clean it throughout. It will be done by Saturday night
next. I think we can be married next week. ... I like Passaic
better than at first.

n8 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

23. — Nothing done again this week. I must make up for it somehow
when I get settled in parsonage with a wife. The Lord make me
happy when I get one.

Sunday, 24. — In evening preached on the Sower and the Seed.
Congregation much larger than before.

25. — Started for Charlotteville to get married. Met Wellington,
Kate's brother, on street. We took Albany boat at 6 p. m.

26. — In morning found ourselves aground 10 miles below Albany.
Reached Albany too late for Charlotteville stage.

27. — Stage for Charlotteville. A long, tedious day — 10^ at Char-
lotteville.

28. — Married at 7 o'clock in morning by David La Monte, Kate's
uncle. Started immediately for Albany. Stopped at Delavan House.

29. — Paid $8 for night's lodging. Took New York boat. As fine
a day as I ever saw. The Hudson was glorious. In evening at home,
where we found a company ready to receive us. Supper ready.

30. — A few people called in, but they were very slow about it.

Mr. Charles M. Howe, of Passaic, says :

In addition to his regular church work, he went quite regularly to
the "Notch" and preached on Sundays in the afternoon. "Notch" ap-
pointment was a neighborhood some four miles from Passaic, or
Aquackanonck, as it was then called. Whenever the pastor was
unable to go, Dr. Howe went himself and would preach. Often there
would be an audience of only from four to ten people present. The
church and parsonage were about one mile from the center of the
village and, although I was only a young boy, I well remember walking
down with our school teacher every night to sleep in the parsonage
as protectors, while the pastor was away on his wedding trip. The
life and preaching of Mr. Hurst were of such a high standard, and
made such an impression on our village, that for years his services
have always been referred to with marked kindness and regard.

May 1. — Rode with Dr. Howe over to Boiling Spring to recon-
noiter the ground a little. In evening had a large congregation and
preached on Reading.

2. — This week betook myself to study in earnest. Practiced elo-
cution every day.

3. — On Sunday morning I find my thoughts greatly exalted by speak-
ing Coleridge's Ode in Chamouny. It elevates my feelings and often
puts me in a preaching frame.

6. — This week getting naturalized to my books once more — the car-
penter is looking over his handled, loved tools again.

At Passaic 119

7. — Practiced elocution in morning and sawed wood in the after-
noon. Was all in a sweat from it.

12. — (New York) Tract Society Anniversary. Speeches by Dr.
Kirk, Missionary Vrooman, and Henry Ward Beecher. The last was
a great one and well done. It was a rebuke to the American Tract
Society on slavery issues. He far surpasses Spurgeon in several
characteristics of greatness. Without indorsing his antislavery ultra-
ism, I admire his boldness and steadfastness of purpose. He preaches
with an aim.

15. — I preached on Christ raised as Moses raised the serpent — at
Germantown. Talked to Germans in their own language for the first
time.

16. — Believe that my voice is improving some little. Have given
myself more to the Lord. His giving me health and a desire to build
up my voice seems to be an indication that he intends at least to
make something out of me.

19. — I am trying to make arrangements to have the backs put on
the benches in the basement of the church. People must be made
comfortable, or they will stay at home.

22. — Preached in the morning on Christ the Vine. Led the Sunday
school class. Preached in German at Germantown. and in evening
to young men. I think it the hardest day's work I have ever done.
Some pain in my chest after all over.

27. — In New York trying to make arrangements for a German
preacher for Germantown.

30. — Elmore (brother-in-law) told me my voice was melodious —
the first praise it has ever received in my hearing. I fear he was
flattering.

June 13. — Went to Germantown to see about getting a new church
for the Germans.

17. — Went to Boiling Spring to meet German preacher. In rain
few hours.

19. — Preached with more earnestness than thought.

21. — Commenced attending lessons with Professor Taverner, of New
York, teacher of Drs. Bellows, Chapin, McClintock, Crooks, and Mil-
burn. He is very theoretical ; still I hope to be very materially
benefited.

27. — Had the blues most dreadfully. In my room without doing
anything save looking out of my window into my back yard.

July 1. — Tried more than ever I did to think out a sermon. Extem-
pore writing is worthless.

22. — My mind has been more than ordinarily impressed with the

120 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

holiness and sacrifice of my calling. I think C7od has never shown
me hefore its extreme responsibility — perhaps because he, the All-
Wise, knew that it would be overpowering unless he showed it to me
more gradually. Whitefield's zealous, burning heart has impressed
me wonderfully. It is a scorching rebuke to unworthy, inactive me.
I have, notwithstanding a defective elocution and weak lungs, deter-
mined resolutely that I will not compromise my calling by dabbling
in literary sketches to the neglect of my ministry. I have, it is true,
a small parish — not thirty souls all told, who are members of my
church. This was very discouraging at first. It is now sometimes.
But they are souls, and for them I am bound to labor. They need
far more than I can give them, and therefore they are entitled to
all I can do for them. I will try to do the work of an evangelist.
But I am not what I ought to be. I have not felt in my own soul
the higher enjoyment which I really believe is permitted to those who
seek it. I wish sanctification (for that is what I mean) had some
other name that would be less startling to me. But purity of heart
I have never had as some have enjoyed. I must commence what
I left off in the early part of my college course under Dr. J. T.
Peck. God help me now to begin again to labor in earnest for it.
The use of tobacco I must forever relinquish. It is injurious to my
throat and necessarily interferes with my speech. May I lay aside
every weight and the sin that most easily besets me ! Thou, God, art
the only witness of my heart at this time. Give me grace to persevere
in my duty and obligations and resolutions.

From the third of January, i860, I begin to write up the neglected
spaces in this Journal from July, 1859. Here is a period of nearly
six months, and in this are embraced some of the most important
events of my life. I can safely say that my difficulties have been
in a certain sense the sorest in all my experiences, as this account will
show. Yet what I have done and resolved to do will perhaps have
a more decided influence on my future labor than my previous prep-
arations.

My small congregation has had a very depressing influence upon me.
The Dutch Reformed Church having evening services in the winter,
I have been deprived of their congregation, with a part of which
I had been favored once on Sabbath in the summer months. My con-
gregation scarcely averages fifty, perhaps not more than forty. With
every desire to be successful, and only successful in the measure of
usefulness to God, I have tried to increase the number of my auditors.
I cannot get full seats. Yet I will labor on and pray much to God
that I mav be instrumental in salvation. I need not conceal that the

At Passaic 121

slender audience I have has been a saddening cause of religious
despondency. It seems as if I do no good whatever, as if I am worth-
less, that I shall never be useful. I have consequently become very
much dissatisfied with my situation at Passaic. I always think of
leaving, and yet I have refused all overtures to go elsewhere. I
think I have as much reason to be chained here and yet preach as
Paul had, while fastened to a Roman soldier.

I merit no more hearers than I have ; alas, they are enough souls
to answer for at the judgment bar, and enough to feed with spiritual
truth. I cannot depend on my audience, therefore, for inspiration.
My help must come from God. Frequently my audience is not over
twenty-five. To-night (7th) my wife says we had a good congre-
gation last Sabbath. "Yes," said I, "I counted thirty." I had been
forming habits of thought for use in addressing audiences, but since
I have been in Passaic it has been almost impossible for me to think
in my hours of solitude of expressions and ideas to use to my people
on the next Sabbath. I cannot study and observe with the reference
to my pulpit that I would like. Yet I find it easier to preach to a
handful of people than when I first commenced dealing with such a
quantity. A few weeks ago I preached at Bloomfield for the Rev.
S. H. Opdyke. His congregation numbered 70, and afterward he
regretted to me the small number. I told him I felt quite inspired in
addressing them because they so far exceeded my own. Thus I find
I can adapt myself better to a few than before.

To the same cause, a small congregation, I must attribute my
diminishing attention to the study of elocution. I have bought Bautain
on Extempore Speaking and am reading it now. I think it the best
work that I have ever examined, tending to improve the elocutionary
powers. Every day before dinner I read ten pages of Paradise Lost,
sometimes sitting, but oftener standing. This I read more for the
maintenance of my strength of voice than for the acquisition of more.
I cannot improve and nurse my voice with that interest which I
exercised formerly, simply because my auditors are so few. I can
work against nature in the cultivation of my vocal organs, but it
seems more than I can do to recite soliloquies and dramatic scenes
as I did in Irvington, and have but a handful of auditors next Sab-
bath. But perhaps it is well that I quit this, and maybe my handful
are blessing me with a richer gift than Trinity Church could confer.
I will try to think so, at least. Yet I intend to continue reading to
my wife from some work of poetry or history, so that my voice may
not be like an undrawn and rusty sword on the coming Sabbath day.
This I shall do, because I think it mv dutv both for my health and

122 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

future success. I have a belief that in time I shall have more people
to visit and be improved by in the work, as well as to preach to on
the Sabbath. If I deserve, the Lord will give them; if not, may he
keep me in Passaic till the day of my death ! I think, however, that
the kind Being who has bent me into a vocation so much against my
will and restored my health against my or my friends' expectation
and led me to improve an almost incorrigible voice, at least somewhat,
will still be my protector, and will not allow my feet to slip. This
is my prayer, yea, my faith; I shall battle on. Soon the spring will
be here, and then my congregation will grow perhaps from a new
bleaching factory, erected half a mile from the church, together with
some of the Dutch whose hour of evening worship will be changed
to the afternoon. How much I think of one who comes to my
church ! I meet a man next day and give him a warm wish for happi-
ness as I grasp his hand. But God leads me down into the valley to
show me where my strength lies. Still, I will not say that I compre-
hend the Providence that has brought me to Passaic — that I must
leave for the future.

In regard to my spiritual experience. My mind has been much
employed in the investigation of the doctrine of sanctification. I
have always had a prejudice to that portion of Methodist doctrine,
based, of course, on an entire disbelief in the power of acquiring such
a blessing. Nor have I been free from this since my entrance into
the ministry. I have been more convinced by the holy life of individ-
uals than by doctrinal statements of the subject that there is a very
lofty position in Christian life which most religious people never reach.
Fletcher's life and deeds are more to my satisfaction than both his
and Wesley's writings. I will not depreciate a work which I have
lately read on the subject. Peck's Christian Perfection. I think
it a most admirable book and highly satisfactory, though I regret
that so much space has been employed in controversy and clearing
the way to his more positive arguments and experience. These are
what we need, what Methodism needs, what the world needs for the
active employment and enjoyment of this great truth. To the men-
tioned work I feel indebted to a great extent, but as yet I am in the
dark, and I know not when I shall be admitted to the full light of
religion. I pray some days very ardently for this great blessing, then
again its importance does not press upon me for some time. What
I need is a constant sense of its necessity to my usefulness and the
development of my spiritual nature. I see so much that I could
remedy if relieved of sin. O that sin were eradicated from my heart,
that I might not suffer by these uprisings of passion and feeling!

At Passaic 123

Now, when made holy, sin will be cast out, the viper gone, though
I am sure that temptation will be presented to me all along my path
in life. I now have the power to conquer every spiritual foe, but I
want to be relieved as much as possible of the struggle. Do I mistake
the doctrine ? I hope not. This much I know ; there is such a truth
as holiness for man. Prayer will make an application of the boon
to me. Why need I stop to question how all this is to be done?
God in his good pleasure will devise a means for my salvation, if
I act according to my present light. The Israelites did right in
marching directly down to the shore of the Red Sea. It was not
their place to inquire how the Lord would save them and destroy
their pursuing enemy. Now I am determined by the grace of God
to go on in the pursuit of holiness. I pray God to give me strength
and a continued purpose that I may continue, if for life, the ardent
struggle for the great boon.

In composition have been doing a little. Hours with the Mystics
has lain in Dr. Whedon's drawer for a year, he telling me frequently
that he hoped soon to be able to use it. The other day he told me
that he would like me to take it home and after reading in Blair's
Rhetoric his chapters on the Structure of Sentences to revise it. I
have read those chapters and am thankful from the bottom of my
heart for the Doctor's advice. I soon after read over my article and,
as highly labored as it undoubtedly was, I would not have seen it
in print for anything. Indeed, I am startled that I had let such
a composition leave my room. I made the resolution to think more
and write less some months ago, but I can only perceive a very slight
improvement. Yet in this, as in other difficulties, by prayer and
steady effort I think I shall be successful.

Some weeks ago I paid a visit to my friend Rev. W. A. Bartlett,
of the Brooklyn Tabernacle. He told me much of his great success,
his multitudes for a congregation, his salary, his preaching. How
little I felt as he told me these things. We are both travelers abroad,
and both alike in many respects. Now he is popular, courted, lectur-
ing everywhere, living like a lord; and I am in a country village, with
but forty for a congregation, $450 for a salary, and no personal
sympathy scarcely from any people in the community. Must I freeze
at this rate? Am I to vegetate like a weed and shed no fragrance
on any circle of humanity? It sometimes seems to me as if I am
nothing and can be nothing. Then, again, I think that God has not
made me to swing my little lamp in a gloomy mine, but has made
me able to build a beacon-light on some grand mountain cliff. How
impenetrable is the future! Can it be seen? No, I cannot guess at

124 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

it even. God make me influential for good! If power, influence
would alienate me, then make me as the chaff which the wind drives
away. How I would like to lead such a noble life as Robert Hall's!
He suffered almost continually, and yet how persistent in the cause
of truth, how filled with an idea of his impotence, how full of the
Spirit of Christ ! Some are masters of the pen, some are gifted in
many other respects, but he was a master in the art of thinking. Ay,
that is an art ; happy he who learns it.

One reason why I have succeeded no better in the pulpit exists
in my desire to do too many things. I wish sometimes I had not so
many books. I was seized the other day with a desire to commence
the reading of Schlosser's World History. It would never do for
me to do that. True, it would be storing my mind with facts, but
in the same time I could master several commentaries more profitably
to the wants of sinful men. So I have determined to use Schlosser
only for reference. Neither can I write on any subject that fancy
may light upon. I can do most when I write and think and read
on kindred subjects.

When I was in college I was made to believe that I was somewhat
of a writer. But of late I have begun to think myself very indirect,
pointless, and inaccurate in my writing. Dr. Whedon, too, is very
severe on me, and I feel quite downhearted after every conversation
with him. My only source of encouragement is simply this — I like
to wrrite. There is nothing, save warm preaching to an attentive
congregation, that makes me forget time and self, like writing. Let it
lie a while. I then wonder at my folly. Perhaps the whole sketch
would disgrace my name forever in this life if it were published. I
must take more time; study good models. Then I will do more. I
trust that God may teach me how to work in the true way to do the
most good.

Sunday, January I, i860. — I have been impressed very seriously
by reading Barnes's Comment on the First Chapter of John's Gospel.
He there lays it down as a principle that a minister must place Christ
first of all, not himself. I fear that this idea has not been prominent
enough in my preaching. May I forget myself in the magnitude of
my message received from God my Father !

January 27. — I have of late found out a very great error of mine
in the preparation of sermons : I had always something of a plan
in mind before commencing, but it was not full enough. I had not
taken enough views of the subject. My design was to develop one
idea of the text instead of bringing out as many ideas as the text
contained. I am trying now to remedy this defect. I am learning to

At Passaic 12

be more judicious in my remarks about others. Perhaps I have
been too communicative and free in my manner. I will not indulge
in too much levity, but try to live in all soberness with the fear of
God before my eyes. I have held myself aloof from the un-Methodist
portion of this little community hitherto; and I trust for the last time.
But I must learn my duty so slowly ! I would that I could know my
whole field of duty in one short hour. O God, I beseech thee to
grant me some years of life after thou hast shown me my whole field
of duty.

My plan of study at present is :

5^4 a. M. — Rise — Prayer — Meditation — Reading Watson's Theology.

7^2 a. M. — Breakfast — Reading N. Y. Times — 2 chapters in Old
Testament — 2 chapters in Kitto, corresponding thereto as nearly as
may be — 1 chapter in Barnes's Notes. These I try to finish by
10 a. m. or thereabout.

10. — Study of sermons.

12. — Theological studies — mostly doctrinal.

1 Vz p. m. — Reading Milton — Declamation or some vocal exercise.

2. — Dinner.

3. — Pastoral work. Miscellaneous reading. Church duties, or the
study of homiletics.

This rule I vary somewhat, for the mind will not do machine work.

January 30. — I have received great advantage from a Scotchman
residing in our village — a teacher named Duncan Campbell. He excels
in three respects : the faculty of teaching, a knowledge of scriptural
facts, a very correct use of language. The greatest service I have
derived from Mr. Campbell is in respect to my use of words.- I felt
badly at some of his corrections. Indeed, I thought, as to some of
the phrases attributed to me, that I did not use them in speech at
all. Behold he was right, for I subsequently found myself using the
same expressions. In another sense has Mr. Campbell improved me:
he has corrected me where his opinion was the reverse of mine as
to the propriety of the matter; but on deliberation I have invariably
come to the conclusion that he was right. In this connection I cannot
forget the feelings instilled into my mind by the reading of Dr.
Macduff's Footsteps of St. Paul. I thank God it has fallen into my
hands. It was loaned me by a dying old man.

My friends in this place are kinder than I deserve. Some days ago
sausage was sent in to us by our friends ; then coal, then pork and
other things. Not the value of gifts, but the heart which they betoken,
is of importance to me.

I have of late read Ruskin's Lamps of Architecture. How beauti-

126 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

fully does he introduce and explain a Scripture truth with his secular
cause! I would that I could build such beautiful temples on such
noble foundations. But my work is greater than his. I would rather
lead one soul to Christ than build enough stately churches for the
world's worship, or to be Giotto or Angelo. I like much Hugh Miller.
I have been reading aloud his Testimony of the Rocks; how grand
and gorgeous is his language ; how rational his conclusions ! Worthy
such an author of human memory and love. God be thanked that
he could not destroy what he had performed. One may end his life,
but he cannot end his works. I hope to become a tolerable potter
of English. I would only become such in order to make people love
the Lord more.

February 10. — My friends at my little Notch appointment have
raised a purse of $15 and given it to me as a token of their esteem.

March 1. — O for seals to my ministry! I sometimes wish that I
had to preach every day in one place or another. When I consider
how lifeless I am, how seldom I preach, how ineffective even in the
pulpit, I feel like casting my books into the flames and rushing forth
to preach on street corners and on wharves, anywhere, to be the means
of saving some immortal souls. But I will wait and mayhap God will
show me something more to do.

8. — Jersey City. Heard H. Grattan Guinness preach. His great-
ness, in my opinion, consists in his frequent quotations from the
Scriptures, surprising you with one after his statement of a truth.
Also he is so lucid in his words, so natural and withal so really but
not vehemently earnest. Maybe God will give me a quiver and bow
some day.

12. — Attended Preachers' Association. Read my essay on Ether-
idge's Adam Clarke. Returned home refreshed in spirit.

14. — Requested by Committee to make one of the addresses of the
Bible anniversary at Conference. I consented with reluctance.

16. — In evening Mrs. H. and I were surprised by a visit from about
thirty of our friends, nearly all outside of the church. When the
company left we found ourselves possessed of $31 in money, some
provisions, and a fine rooster. A pleasant episode this in our monot-
onous Passaic life.

18. — In view of my repeated failures to keep my appetite in sub-
jection, I form this solemn resolution, asking God's assistance toward
its strict observance :

1. Before each meal to pray to God to help me to be temperate at
the table and eat nothing that I know to disagree with me ; also to be
very sparing of what does suit me.

At Passaic 127

2. To eat nothing between my meals, not even a bonbon.

3. To eat no meat at supper, very sparingly of preserved fruits, no
rich cake.

4. To eat nothing before retiring to bed.

April 4. — Hackettstown. Conference opened this morning. Bible
meeting to-day. The speakers were J. O. Winner, J. F. Hurst, T. H.
Landon, J. R. Bryan, and W. Dwight, of Constantinople. I didn't fail,
but came a very short distance from it.

7. — Spent the evening at home and thought over my morrow's
ordination.

8. — Afternoon rode over with four other candidates for deacon's
orders to Vienna. The sermon was delivered by James Ayres on
Giving a Reason for the Hope Within You. Afterward Bishop Scott
ordained us to the holy office of the ministry.

He was reappointed to Passaic.

11. New York. — Made purchases of Macknight on the Epistles.
The author is Calvinistic and thus renders some passages, but he gives
the sinew of the truth of God.

May 14. — Boy (John La Monte) born at 11^2 a. m. Perfect and
well. That night at family prayer we dedicated him to God.

July 2. — This day married my first couple. In afternoon the dear
baby was baptized by Dr. John S. Porter.

Mr. F. A. Wilcox, of New York, says :

I recall spending a most happy Fourth of July as a guest at the
Bishop's modest home at Passaic Bridge. I had been thrown into
the somewhat Bohemian life of a New York law student at that period,
with restraints a little slackened, but was greatly impressed with the
beautiful Christian atmosphere that pervaded that happy household.
It was an incentive to good which had a lasting effect on me.

August 19. — Should I die without the time for witnessing let this
be known : I die with Christ, consequently I expect to live with him.

He made his first trip to Niagara Falls in late August,
taking in Trenton Falls and Sharon Springs on his return.

November 26. — Within the last two months I have spent some six
dollars more than I ought to have done. May God pardon me for
my extravagance and lead me to better deeds.

December 1. — To-day sent off my first article on Foreign Religious
Literature to the Methodist.

128 JOIIX I ; LETCHER HURST A BIOGRAPHY

Of his work in Passaic Dr. John M. Howe says :

Methodism, up to this pastorate, had made but little impression
upon the community. Mr. Hurst's influence helped us somewhat with
those who had previously looked down upon us. His handsome de-
portment and services essentially promoted the welfare of the church.

XXV

At Eiizabethport, Fulton Street

His assignment at the Conference session of 1861 to Fulton
Street Church, Eiizabethport, was a distinct promotion and
recognition of the growing power of the zealous and indus-
trious young pastor. Mrs. M. A. Huntsman, one of his most
helpful and efficient members here, gives the following testi-
mony of this pastorate :

When he arrived here we had only one stove, in a rented parsonage,
and no money in the treasury. Brother Hurst appeared not at all
discouraged. It was about four weeks before we got things arranged
for proper housekeeping. Very soon he became acquainted with all
the members of our church as well as the general public who were
not members, particularly the young people, with whom he was a great
favorite. The attendance increased and his work was blessed by
adding many members to our church.

His position and influence during these troublous days of
the republic are well set forth by W. W. Park, a member of
this church, who also gives loving tribute to his pastor's work
and character :

The stirring times of '61 and '62 were fraught with much concern
to the church as well as our country. He, being a young man, was
fired with zeal for God, church, and country, and well do I remember
the stirring appeals made by him from pulpit and rostrum in behalf
of the union of the states. These were heroic utterances, in a heroic
time, of a heroic man, and it required a man of sterling qualities to

At Elizabeth port 129

stem the disloyal spirit that prevailed in this section of Jersey at that
time.

The quiet, thoughtful demeanor of John F. Hurst as pastor, student,
scholar, teacher — for he was a preacher in every sense, a teacher of
the Word, deep in thought, impressive in delivery, simple and childlike
in manner — left an impress on the minds and hearts of all who
listened, which remains to this day. I remember on one occasion,
when he was preaching on loyalty to God and country, a man occupy-
ing a seat in the gallery followed him sotto voce, through the entire
discourse, to his annoyance. In closing he arose in majesty and, with
a keen wit cutting to the quick, administered such a rebuke to that
disturber that he quailed before it, sneaked away, and never annoyed
again.

A congregation of three or four hundred greeted him, and often
more. The pent-up powers of mind and heart burst forth in all their
eloquence, grace, and spirit. Here he organized the first young peo-
ple's class, he being its first president or leader. That class was a
grand success, and its influence remains to this day. There was much
opposition to its formation. It was thought to be an innovation
upon the right and discipline of the church. But withal it lived, thrived,
and is a strong auxiliary to the church to-day. When we think of
the great work of the young people's societies of to-day, and the
wonderful progress they have made in the various lines of good in
the church and world, may we not claim for our beloved pastor, John
F. Hurst, the honor of first organizing the young people for work,
in the early sixties?

Another phase of his struggle with the question of writing
books as related to his work as a minister appears in a record
of September 19:

Never until now have I been able to see truly that I must perform
one work. I had great plans for reading history and biography,
also for writing my contemplated History of Rationalism, for which
I have been collecting materials at great expense of time and money.
I should have but little to do save letting my pen run. I have pretty
well mastered the theme. But I will not write it until doomsday,
sooner than I will infringe one particle on my ministerial vocation.
My letters to the Methodist for children I will continue, as I only
use an hour or two of recreation in the work for that purpose. May
the Lord bless the household of J. W. Alexander for that noble man's
work on Preaching. I cannot estimate the good it has done me.
10

130 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

The heart and household of the parson at "The Port'' were
gladdened on December 30, 1861, by the arrival of their sec-
ond child, a daughter, to whom was given the name of Clara.

The people of his congregation planned and carried to
success a surprise upon their pastor and his wife on February
24, 1862, leaving them in possession of purses containing $100
for him and $17 for her, "pin money," as it was termed, and
also very delightful memories of this united expression of
appreciation and good will. The large company came to the
parsonage in the absence of the family, and not the least
amusing circumstance was the objection made by the servant
in charge to the acts of the committee of ladies, who went
early. She "knew Mrs. Hurst wouldn't like it," and advised
them to "wait till she came home" ; and it was only by the
opportune arrival of a very intimate friend of the family that
her fears were quieted, and she allowed them to go on without
hindrance.

At the fifth session of the Conference in 1862 he delivered a
most instructive and impressive address upon the Tract Cause,
and was ordained elder by Bishop Thomas A. Morris. During
the second summer of this pastorate Mrs. Hurst and the two
young children spent the most of August at Flemington, New
Jersey, at the parsonage with Rev. S. H. Opdyke and family,
and the letters of the husband and father during this separation
reveal among other things his lighter vein of humor and
methods of recreation :

August 3. — I am greatly troubled about my celery — it won't grow
a bit. I don't know what I shall do to coax it along. If I knew
of anybody that has been in the habit of using beer, I might get a
little to give to it for its health. I must either replant or you will
have to do without.

6. — I pulled the cucumbers yesterday and am going to pickle
them to-night. There were seven nice ones. Two tremendous ones
I found had grown old and yellow.

At Elizabeth port 131

Here is a hint as to how he organized a fishing party and
what were the spoils :

11. — I have got splendid crab bait. I shall have a good lunch. Sev-
eral of the preachers have sent notes saying they cannot come. I wish
Opdyke were here to go fishing with us to-day. I don't know what
I shall do with all our fish. Poor things, they little dream of what
havoc we are going to make.

12. — Well, my party disappointed me sadly. None came except
Dr. Porter and Brother Buttz. Booth, the young man from Brooklyn,
who preached for me Sunday night, and his friend, and John Porter
completed our party. We had everything good and fine. Mrs. Porter
had a splendid dinner, which we were so anxious to eat that we got
tired of fishing very soon. We caught nothing but one toad fish,
which Buttz caught, and we threw over for good luck. We landed
on Shooter's Island about illA o'clock and stretched ourselves out and
had a first-rate dinner. Then we talked, and talked until it was time
for me to go home. We had a fair wind home, but no sail, yet we
wanted to sail. What should we do? We had a big piece of old
dirty torn canvas, so we hoisted that on two oars and with that we
sailed home amid the applause of every boat's crew that we passed.

To John and Clara. 13. — I must tell you before I go to bed how
much I think of you and how often I call to mind your dear little
faces. Wouldn't you like to go to our picnic next Wednesday? Well,
get mamma to put you into a good little flour bag and give you to
the stage driver and have him send you down to me. Wouldn't we
have a good time? Then, after we had taken a good many little
walks I might send you back again to Flemington. For tea, which
I prepared myself, I ate six pears. I think you would like to have
a taste of them. I bought them from an old German woman who
was around with a wagon load this morning.

To Mrs. Hurst. 19. — I must tell that yesterday I did what I have
long intended to do about writing for the Methodist. I told Dr.
Crooks I was tired of the Children's Stories, at which he expressed
his regret. He told me I could have a respite of six weeks if I liked
and then could go at it again. But I told him that I thought he had
better put the matter in other hands. He then consented and asked
me to translate some German theological articles at my leisure. This
I consented to do, for it would be according to my taste. I can select
them from my own books on hand and need never feel hurried.

He was after this persuaded to furnish many more stories.

13- John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

September 27. — (Plan of work.)

5 a. m. — Devotion — Declamation — Scripture Verses.
7 — Breakfast.

8^2 — Sermon.

11 — Exercise.

12 m. — Writing.
I p. M. — Dinner.

Tuesday and Friday — Pastoral Visiting.
Wednesday and Thursday — Miscellaneous Reading.

This new plan has been made to relieve a weakness of my eyes
caused by writing early in the morning. — J. F. H.

October 1. — Commenced writing essays for Herzog's Encyclopaedia
to-day at 4?4 o'clock p. m.

November 12. — Commenced on Rationalism and Its Later Phases.
May God inspire me to write it in such a way that some men of this
land may be saved from the blight of a wrecked faith in God's Word !

1863, February 2. — Heard Wendell Phillips lecture on the Lost
Arts. The most masterly performance I ever listened to.

8. — Missionary day. Dr. Carlton preached. Collection $130, or
nearly double any previous collection.

11. — Prayer meeting in church in evening. More interest than
in any previous meeting. One lady came to the altar and was con-
verted. She was a boatman's wife from Lockport, N. Y. Her face
was indicative of her peace with God.

12. — Have just read an excellent little work. The Still Hour. I
do not fulfill one of its principal requisites, time enough in prayer.
I would that I could talk more with God.

15. — Mariner's Harbor. At close of services was visited by com-
mittee from Hedding Church, Jersey City. They proposed my going
there.

17. — After prayer meeting returned home and found a surprise
party. Dr. Carlton addressed me and gave me an album containing
$100. A small sum of $15 was handed to Mrs. Hurst.

24. — Spent most of the time in copying from a German translation
of Rose on Rationalism. The only copy I have been able to get, and
this from the Library of Union Theological Seminary.

25. — Concluded Rose on Rationalism. Want to get material at
command so as to go right to work when I reach another place. I
think I can preach as well and work thus for the press too.

March 2. — Spent day mostly in old bookstores in Nassau Street.
Purchased Lodge's translation of all Seneca's Works.

5. — Heard that the people of Hedding Church were changing their

At Elizabeth 133

mind about having me preach for them. I know that Providence
will do all right, but how hard for me to keep my finger out.

7. — Talked calmly and kindly to a man who has reviled me. He
confessed his sin. He was a steward in the church.

9. — New York. Expected pleasant time and was very much dis-
appointed. Had but little business, ergo, I conclude not to go any
more to New York without business.

12. — In evening in Brooklyn heard Wendell Phillips lecture on
Toussaint L'Ouverture. I have never seen the equal of this man
Phillips, much as I dislike his politics.

25. — Conference met at Jersey City. Appointed one of Committee
to publish Minutes. Examined class of candidates for probationship
in the Conference.

27. — Much excitement about my appointment. The prospect is for
Staten Island.

28. — Invited to take charge of Bayard Street Church. Declined it,
as that would place me in New Brunswick — out of the Conference.

29. — In evening went to John Street M. E. Church and spoke there
on missions.

30. — Was told that my appointment would be Water Street, Eliz-
abeth.

31. — Conference closed to-night at 11 o'clock. Sent to Elizabeth.
O that many souls may be converted there ! Then will I rejoice with
joy unspeakable.

XXVI

At "Elizabeth, Water Street

His appointment to the Water Street Church, Elizabeth,
was another advance in the Conference. In 1867 AYater
Street was changed in name to Elizabeth Avenue, and the
church name was also changed and remained Elizabeth
Avenue until the society merged with Saint Paul's in 1877 to
form the present Saint James, the first opening service occur-
ring April 15. His Journal and letters give the most faithful
picture of this important pastorate :

134 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

April I, 1863. — Arrived at home again after a long week's absence.
The dear children I was so glad to see again. May the Lord spare
them and make them both useful to the world, is my most fervent
prayer.

9. — Moved up to Elizabeth. Had a reception. Full house and
warm greetings.

27. — Read a sermon yesterday on Unity with Christ. Heard criti-
cisms on it afterward from Mr. Denman. "Why did you read last
Sunday?" "Because I liked the change for sake of variety and I can
thus please another class who don't like extempore discourse." "O,
we all like extempore discourse. There is no division on that subject:
our people like preaching, not reading." What a blow was that!
But the next thing he said melted me: "I heard a man say, 'He
must have borrowed that read sermon from somebody else.' " I think
now I am almost cured of reading sermons. I can't stand a thrust
like that.

May 3. — I have been reading McCheyne's great success in preach-
ing. May God grant me an earnest work of revival here ! I would
willingly sacrifice everything, even life.

13. — Finished after repeated failures my first chapter on Ration-
alism. It has grown from a few to many pages, owing to later investi-
gations. I trust God will make it useful to the young men of this
great land.

July 4. — Spoke an address at Tottenville, Staten Island. Caught
a severe cold.

5. — Fainted publicly in the congregation this a. m. while Dr. Porter
was preaching. Cause, exhaustion from yesterday's labor. Fell
against the stove. Hurt my head and back. Did not feel alarmed
on awaking. Felt safe in God's hands.

7. — Much recovered from my fall. Resolved on a new method
of preaching — to preach one year memoriter one sermon, the other
extempore. This I do for experiment and if successful to continue.

11. — Commenced translation of a volume of Tholuck's Sermons.

14. — Wrote two pages in History of Rationalism. First for a good
while.

18. — On my knees I declare that in future I will be the black man's
friend, and if my previous course has seemed dubious may God forgive
me. The riots in New York have disgusted me with conservatism.

23. — Daily plan of work : A. M. 5. Rising and devotion. 6. Reading
Bible and Elocution. 7. Breakfast. 8:30. Study of Sermon. 1 1. Mis-
cellaneous Writing.

P. M. 1. Dinner. 2:30 Wednesday and Friday: Pastoral Visiting.

At Elizabeth 135

Tuesday and Thursday : Reading and Business. Saturday : Recrea-
tion. 6. Supper. Miscellaneous Reading on spare evenings. 10.
Retiring.

25. — To-day I have finished the 64th page in MS. of an Historical
Account of Rationalism and its Later Phases. I propose to complete
it by next April, the work to be about 500 pages. But I must not
infringe upon my allotted time as given in my plan.

28. — Last night, while in a small prayer meeting in class room
No. 3, I felt a new accession of power from God. While Brother
Denman was praying I felt strangely full of new light. I could not
ejaculate — I said, " How sweet to receive blessings from on high."
I heard an inward voice say, " Trouble yourself not much about the
means you use — I will make the work easy for you." O, how good is
God ! I felt that to doubt would almost have been atheism.

30. — Felt the holy influence of my great blessing all day.

August I. — Wrote three pages to-day on my Rationalism. Find
myself getting easier in composition now than I was at first, seldom
having to cut and paste my leaves.

10. — Preached extempore from a well-prepared and fully written
sermon. Was not at all satisfied. I concluded to read a sermon occa-
sionally. Thus I can make use of my advantages far more than in
extempore discourse. Of course I shall find opposition ; but I am
perfectly willing to endure any sacrifice for the sake of helping my
church.

17. — Started for a two weeks' vacation in Maryland.

23. — Sold my farm, Weir Neck.

27. — Started for Gettysburg. In afternoon went over part of the
battlefield in company with a man who was a spectator of the battle.

28. — Visited the Seminary and general hospitals. Saw several
Marylanders among the wounded. The scenes are awful to behold.

September 28. — I consecrate myself to God for time, then it will
be unnecessary for eternity. Will leave off the use of tobacco and
excess in eating — both of which have been the curse of my life. Will
also cultivate an amiable and forbearing spirit — never speak in haste,
and do nothing for mere effect.

October 1. — Have been using special means for a revival in my
church. Find God's Spirit at work in the congregation.

4. — I have never had such confidence in prayer in pulpit as to-day.
It seemed as if I was talking with God, to him.

9. — Last night two souls, man and wife, were converted at the altar.
I feel the necessity of cultivating kindly tones. I think the manner
of pleasant speaking has much to do with success in these revival

136 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

meetings. Says Whitefield, "I carefully sought out those acceptable
tones that were like a spell upon the heart, even when the words
were unremembered."

II. — It seems as if my heart would break if souls are not converted.

25. — I shall make it my aim in future to aim directly at the
conversion of souls. Wrote 15 pages on my Rationalism this week,
besides making sermons, preaching on Wednesday and Tuesday even-
ings, and writing a children's story for the Methodist.

December 3. — In my meetings have been blessed with the conver-
sion of about thirty souls. The majority were from the Sunday
school. God has blessed us, and yet it seemed to me as if I had faith
enough for the conversion of a hundred souls. I have been writing
a children's story every week for the Methodist, and I am working
rapidly upon my History of Rationalism. I wrote twenty pages last
week, eighteen of which were done one day.

Here is a reproof in writing modified with a judicious ad-
mixture of good will in a letter written December 22 :

Mr. L : I yesterday purchased two blank books from you and

you wrapped them up as I thought in greasy paper. I did not wish
my clothes soiled, and therefore asked you to wrap them up in other
paper. You became very angry, tore off the wrapper, and in great
wrath you put on another, scarcely knowing what you were doing.
On asking you what I should pay for the books, both together, you
hurriedly looked at them and said, "Sixty-nine cents" ; then gave
your boy my five-dollar bill, and I got my change. This morning, on
untying the budget, I find that you did not take into account one of
the books at all, which was worth 60 cts. Were you to suffer the
full penalty of your anger you would lose the value of that book alto-
gether. But I do not wish you should do so. I therefore inclose you
the 60 cts. minus the value of the paper on which I write this letter,
together with the stamp. Anger sometimes costs men more than 60
cts. — yes, a great deal of unhappiness here and eternal misery here-
after. I therefore hope your age will remind you that it is better
to govern your spirit than take a city. Let the Christmas bring to
your memory the value of redemption and the presence of Christ with

all who seek him. I wish you, Mr. L , a Merry Christmas and

a Happy New Year.

Signed : An old customer and one who expects to continue his
patronage.

January 1, 1864. — Have accepted a proposition from Rev. Dr. Nadal

At Elizabeth 137

to unite with him in the translation of Hagenbach's Church History
of 18th and 19th Centuries. But I can work on it before breakfast —
must spend my time between breakfast and dinner at my sermons.

6. — Joined the Union League this evening. Attended meeting of
Sanitary Commission, having been made a member of the committee.

9. — Rose regularly before six o'clock and translated a few pages
before breakfast.

25. — Had stewards' meeting. Was criticised. One thought I did
not lead the prayer meetings right — I should read a chapter and
explain like the Presbyterian preachers lecture. Of course, this would
leave no time for prayers. Another thought I ought to leave the
meeting open and call on some of the brethren to exhort. Of course,
this would take a helmsman from a meeting, who is just as nec-
essary in religious exercises as in a storm. Another thought I ought
to preach on sanctification. Another thought I ought to preach right
from the heart and use no paper to read my sermons from. I dis-
solved the meeting by saying that I thought I had advice enough for
once.

29. — He records Dr. Arnold's prayer dated May 26, 1842 :

"O Lord, keep thyself present to me always, and teach me to come
to thee by the one and living Way, thy Son, Jesus Christ. Keep me
humble and gentle, self-denying, firm, and patient, active, wise to know
thy will and to discover the truth, loving that I may learn to resemble
thee, my Saviour ! O Lord, forgive me for all my sins, and save me
and guide me and strengthen me through Jesus Christ."

31. — Wrote 160 pages of Hagenbach's History in this one month.
The most work, with all my other duties, that I have accomplished
in one month.

February 8. — Had a good day yesterday, save last night when I
made a blunder in giving out the benediction while choir sang dox-
ology.

12. — After prayer meeting the church assembled at my house and
left in my hands $150. A great help in hard times.

20. — I have almost concluded a week of great, yea, of indescribable
bitterness. I cannot attempt to depict my sorrow.

Some of the causes of my anguish: (1) The intimations that Mr.
J. W. S. and Mr. J. C. D. desire my removal from Elizabeth at
the end of this my first year's ministry. (2) The contemplation of
my comparative failure in the conversion of souls this year. (3) The
failure of my first literary undertaking. I mean the translation of
Hagenbach's History of the Church in the 18th and 19th Centuries.
This week I received a letter from the Messrs. Clark of Edinburgh,

138 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

that the work is already translated and is being put to print. Of
course this will prostrate my continuation of the work in connection
with Dr. Nadal. I have written him the intelligence. (4) The weak-
ness of my own nature in the indulgence of my appetite. To-day
I fast, hoping that God will bless me in so doing. I shall pray much
and look to God for light.

March 15. — Examined a class of candidates for deacons' orders.

16. — Conference met at Paterson. I was on the Committee for
publishing the Minutes.

He made one of the two addresses at the anniversary of
the Bible Society on the seventeenth, John Hanlon being the
other speaker.

March 21. — Walked about the Paterson Falls and attended Union
meeting in Continental Hall. Conference resolved to meet in Eliz-
abeth another year.

22. — Conference closed. Was reappointed to Water Street, Eliz-
abeth.

24. — I have returned from Conference, always an exciting season,
and in the present case but little less so than usual. I went there
with strict determination to yield in no wise to the common tempta-
tions that I had previously given way to. I went, I saw, I yielded.
I shall endeavor this Conference year to live more holy before God
than ever before.

April 9. — I have been busily engaged in writing on my History
of Rationalism. The theme gathers in interest as I proceed. I make
it my rule to write on my History before breakfast, while other men
are asleep. Breakfasted at 7 a. m.

To Mrs. Hurst at "Bonnie Brook" : May 2a

I came home yesterday a. m. Found things all right. The spiders
had been spanning the rooms with webs ; the black cat discovered my
presence and came begging. I have found the ginger cakes come in
well. I take lunch here at 12 m. I have eaten a piece of cake around
which Miss Clara's teeth have been gnawing. How much I have
been thinking of the dear little children. I could not bear to stay in
Philadelphia after you had gone.

June 6. — Never have been in greater doubt and perplexity since
my entrance upon the ministry. I know not what to do save to call
upon God. Several points of difficulty in my church: (1) A spirit
of enmity and disunion. Two or three parties in the church. (2) The

Tramping in Southern New York 139

nonattendance of children upon the Sabbath service. (3) The second
Sabbath service seems almost an impossibility for me to arrange
to suit the members. (4) A lack of sympathy between the people
and myself. (5) The meager congregations. In addition to this is
my own weak health. Sometimes I feel so weak in the morning that
I have to recline and sleep so as to recover strength. These points
I will pray for daily, God being my helper. I have read Midler's
Life of Trust and am convinced from that, in addition to the promises
of God, that he will grant me health.

7. — Started from Elizabeth for Maryland.

August 5. — Cruel. I am amazed at my work down to this evening.
Last Sunday I preached three times; since which time I have had
two business meetings, been present and taken part in three evening-
services, conducted a class meeting, had one funeral service several
miles in the country, occupying a whole afternoon, made several calls
and been terribly bored myself, and yet have written two full chapters
in my History of Rationalism, numbering forty-nine and one third
foolscap pages.

August 22. — Left home for a foot tour through the romantic parts
of the New York and Erie Railroad, intending to walk the most of
the way from Suffern to Deposit. Stopped my first night at Paterson.

23. — Took cars for Suffern. Walked to Ramapo, except a short
ride writh a substitute broker. Took bath in the Ramapo just above
the falls. Stopped all night at Southfields. Walked about nine miles
with pack on my back.

Southfields, Orange County, X. Y., August 23, 1864.
To Mrs. Hurst:

I am now sitting down in my plain room in Mr. Hoag's Hotel,
within sound of the cowbells, and the thousand and one varieties of
beetles that one ever hears in the country toward evening. I am in
stocking feet, blue shirt, and shirt-sleeves. I have been alone. Though
alone, I have been very much pleased with my undertaking, and I
think my health will be greatly benefited. I got out at Suffern
Station. Then I had some talks with the natives, and put on my
knapsack, with my velvet vest inside. I find I have taken just the
right things with me. I suppose I have walked about ten miles,
ridden one mile in a buggy, at the driver's invitation, and about two
miles in an iron-ore cart at my own invitation. I have already been
taken as a member of three professions. I was asked by a long-
whiskered mountaineer if I was not a doctor; by a stout boy if I
hadn't some jewelry for sale; and I heard a boy shout out to his

140 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

mother, "There goes a soldier !" I have heard no one say, "There
goes the dominie !" I have been walking through a most charming
country, not hurrying, but taking my time. I have had quite a variety
of incident. I was delighted with the beautiful falls of the Ramapo
River, the only drawback being an unpleasant proximity to a big
blacksnake who seemed as much afraid of me as I was of him.
The beautiful stream grew so attractive that I stripped off and took
a delightful and refreshing bath in it.

24. — Breakfast at 6M2 a. m. Was off with the early morning and
while the dew was fresh. Passed through Greenwood, Turner's,
Monroe, Oxford, and Chester ; stopped all night at Thompson's Hotel
in Goshen. Walked about sixteen miles. Walked to Middletown and
went around the town a little. Rode thence to Howell's Station and
then walked to Otisville. Stopped at the house of Rev. George T.
Jackson. Best bed I have had since I left home. Am one day ahead
of time.

Middletown, August 25.
To Mrs. Hurst :

I make much faster time than I anticipated. The country is very
beautiful. I drink milk altogether ; I stop at a farmhouse, take a bowl,
and press on. I find myself very much benefited. I hope that by
God's blessing I shall be fully recruited and be home at the end of
week after next.

26. — Rode over to Finchville and the creamery a. m. P. M. rode
over to New Vernon and Green Village. Also went with some ladies
to top of a hill overlooking Otisville.

2J. — Walked to Cuddebackville and over the Xeversink River.
Then was overtaken by a wagon load of friends with whom I rode to
Port Jervis. We took dinner at the hotel, and in evening met some
friends, Rev. Messrs. Coit, and found they had made good and kindly
arrangements for my accommodation at Rev. Mr. Dutcher's.

28. — Made speech in Port Jervis Sunday school. Afternoon at-
tended a very pleasant class meeting. In evening heard Rev. Charles
Coit preach and exhorted afterward. Walked to the top of Point
Peter and Mount William, overlooking the surrounding country.

A story that Dr. Charles S. Coit was always fond of telling-
hinges on the exhortation given in the evening by our pedes-
trian preacher in his traveling suit. It is to the effect that a

Two Days at Monticello 141

wealthy layman who was summering there and was present
handed ten dollars to the pastor, saying, "This is for the
stranger who spoke. It was a good exhortation, and he looks
as if he needed it."

29. — Took a walk over to Carpenter's Point through the country —
the junction of three states. After 10 a. m. commenced my foot jour-
ney for Monticello. Walked through a lonely and dense forest, pass-
ing Forestburg. Met a thunder shower and was detained. Arrived at
Rev. Thomas La Monte's at 8J-4 p. m. Walked to-day 27 miles and
rode not a foot of the way.

30. — Took walk over to the hills opposite the M. E. Church. Felt
very sore from my previous day's labor. Ate very much more than
I should have done.

Monticello, N. Y., August 30.
To Mrs. Hurst:

I walked twenty-seven miles yesterday, and was not so tired as after
my 16 miles of last week. Still, I would not have walked the 27, but
I could get no good stopping place short of Monticello. I reached
here last night and expect to remain 2 days. Then I will be off
by the Cochecton turnpike back again to the Delaware. Thomas and
his wife received me very cordially. I am very much pleased with
her. She is extremely pleasant and entertaining. This a. m. we
had for breakfast cornbread, good hash, fresh pork, honey, coffee, and
other things in accordance. I went out with Thomas to a high hill
overlooking the town. It was beautiful. On one side you could see
the mountains of Pennsylvania, and on the other the old Catskills.
Then I could see beautiful lakes that nestled between the hills, and
the little valley where Liberty is situated. How it brought you to
mind ! You and the dear children are very much in my mind. How
I would like to see you now !

The journey is doing me a great deal of good. I can't tell you how
much better I feel. My long-standing headache is gone. This a. m.
I read your and Clara's sweet letters all over again. I like them so
much because they tell me of the love with which you cherish me.
It is reciprocated, my dear Kate, for I love you with all the love of
which I am capable.

September 1. — Started early for Cochecton by the old direct turn-
pike— distance 22 miles. The country very beautiful and wild.
Stopped at White Lake a half-hour. Took cars at Cochecton for
Deposit, and, arriving there, I received two letters from home.

142 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

2. — Took walk high up on the hills overlooking Deposit, but the
fog was so thick that I saw nothing. After breakfast took train for
Narrowsburg. Was kindly entertained at the house of Mr. C. C.
Murray, the proprietor of the hotel. Had a good rest. Walked over
to the little cascade beyond the river.

3. — Had an excellent night's rest. Took another walk up the river
and over the hills beyond. Invited to the house of Mr. W. S. Cor-
win, where I remained the rest of my stay in Narrowsburg. He has
a good library where I delight.

4. — Went over to the church and heard Rev. Mr. Cramp, a young
Englishman, preach. Led class myself.

To Mrs Hurst- Narrowsburg, N. Y., September 4, 1864.

I would not have stayed these two weeks if I had not found the
tour very beneficial to me. I have lost my headache altogether, and
I think I shall be able to weather through the winter very well. Kiss
the dear children for me. I would give almost anything if I could
only have a romp with them.

5. — Started at 6 a. m. for home. Had no breakfast. Was delighted
to get home once more. My health is very much improved. Had a
pleasant time in writing on my experience during vacation under the
title of Two Weeks on Foot.

September. — Books which I hope to write: 1. Life Pictures from
the History of the Church. 2. Christ at Jacob's Well. 3. Seneca.
4. History of Pietism. 5. History of English Deism. 6. Christ at
the Grave of Lazarus. 7. Hours of Devotion.

November 12. — I have been writing a History of Rationalism, and
have completed it except the last two chapters.

December 4. — This is a bright, beautiful Sabbath. I have finished
my History of Rationalism and committed the MS. to Dr. Crooks for
examination. This off my mind, I shall give myself more exclusively
to the work of the Watchman of Zion.

17. — Have just been calculating my expenses for books during the
year 1864, and found the amount to be over $150.

January 6, 1865. This afternoon at a quarter before five o'clock
I put my last word upon my History of Rationalism. Have been
thanking God at times almost ever since that he has enabled me to
finish my task.

12. — Rose at 4lA o'clock and reconsecrated myself to God's service.

March 13. — Went to Boston to-night with my brother-in-law, Mr.
Elmore. My first visit there.

At West New Brighton 143

14. — Visited Harvard College, Mount Auburn Cemetery, Faneuil
Hall, the Athenaeum.

April 1. — Conference met in Water Street Church. Had all I could
do to entertain the preachers. It was like keeping a hotel. Was
appointed by the Bishop to Trinity Church, Staten Island.

XXVII

At West New Brighton, Trinity Church

The culmination of his career as a pastor was reached
during the eighteen and a half months in Trinity Church at
West New Brighton, then known as Factoryville, Staten
Island. Strong in his faith in God, chastened but not dis-
couraged by the criticisms and misrepresentations which had
hindered the full fruits for which he had prayed and labored at
Water Street, he went from the series of four churches which
he had served in northern New Jersey to his new island ap-
pointment in New York harbor — a happy presage of his en-
trance a little later into the great world currents of religious
thought and life. A few precious records — the ejaculations
of his heart — remain from his pen :

May 7, 1865. — While in prayer to-day, alone in my study, I had
a singular and almost supernatural impression of the power of energy
— will — resolution. By God's help I will act in accordance with that
impression in future.

September 7. — This afternoon at Va before 5 o'clock I gave the
last copy of my History of Rationalism to the printer. It was the
title-page. Thus, after two months of almost constant labor, I have
finished the arduous labor of seeing this work through the press,
besides attention to all my pastoral work. Thank God for preserving
life and health !

12. — Went up to Albany in the Dean Richmond. Reached Char-
lotteville on the 13th in the afternoon. Found my family well.

20. — Started by horse and carriage with my wife and little boy
for a ride down to Tunkhannock, where my wife's brother lives.

144 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

24. — The ride lasted four days. The scenery was enchanting. The
distance was over a hundred miles, eighty of which lay along the bank
of the upper Susquehanna.

25. — Was taken suddenly ill with bilious fever. Fell on the floor
with faintness and blindness. Had to go to bed and have a physician.

October 17. — Returned home after my long sickness of three weeks.
Took the cars at Factoryville, having previously ridden in rough
stage a distance of nine miles from Tunkhannock. Reached home
about eight o'clock p. m.

20. — Am mending very rapidly every day. I feel deeply the great
goodness of God in restoring me to health again.
November 10, General Work on Hand.

The Methodist: Three stories per month.

Advocate and Journal : One article every three weeks.

Ladies' Repository: One article every three months.

Writing Sermons: One fully written sermon every week.

He was actively interested in the live question of lay repre-
sentation in the General Conference, and sought to promote it
wherever he could. Rev. Dr. J. T. Crane, of Morristown,
wrote him on January 20, 1866:

I am gratified to know that my friends approve my mode of set-
ting forth the Lay Representation question, and I am especially
pleased to learn that the "coming men" of the Conference approve.
I am obliged to you for your compliment ; and now in regard to your
proposition of some Conference action, I had not got so far in my
ideas as that ; and yet I am inclined to believe that a series of reso-
lutions, judiciously framed, would be accepted by the brethren, and
pass without difficulty.

On March 4 he received, as the fruits of a revival, forty-
nine probationers into the church, which number was increased
to about ninety the following month.

June 6. — Have been appointed by the authorities of our church
to become Professor in our Theological School in Bremen. Dr. W.
F. Warren has just left the position and it is pressed upon me by
the bishops. I have declined it. My work seems to be at home.

28. — Received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Dickinson
College.

At West New Brighton 145

August 1. — In the afternoon we went to see an aged sick man,
Father Braisted. He is a setting sun. Never have I seen, more
than in his case, the triumph of Christianity so beautifully exemplified.

3. — Am getting ready for my departure on my vacation.

4. — Received a letter from Dr. Warren urging me to accept the
appointment to Germany. I do not yet know whether I will accept.

6. — Started with wife and babies on the Albany evening boat. Met
my friend, Rev. S. H. Opdyke, who is to take a foot journey with
me through the White Mountains.

15. — If anything ever comes from this subject (our thought of
Christ) it may be attributed to the good Spirit of God and to the
rainy day I spent in the Profile House, White Mountains.

September 20. — Made agreement to go to Germany in Mission
Institute.

24. — Am getting ready to leave the country, having accepted a
position in Bremen. My poor dear sister is almost broken-hearted
at the thought of it.

From those who enjoyed his ministrations during this last
of his five pastorates have come many loving testimonials. A
thoughtful young man, who then sat under his ministry and
has long been a successful pastor, has been called by the
church to episcopal honors and duties. The Rev. Dr. (now
Bishop) Henry Spellmeyer says:

He was pastor of our family at Trinity Church during the time
when he was preparing his History of Rationalism. I remember
going to New York with him the day he took his proof copy to
the publishers. He and his wife were present when I graduated
from New York University, and I remember their congratulations
and the fact that a beautiful bouquet came from the hand of Mrs.
Hurst to my feet. But these are purely personal matters, and. while
I cherish them as a fragrant memory, they would have no interest
to the readers of a Biography.

These facts, which the modest preacher thought to "have no

interest to the reader/' belong to all. The fragrance of that

friendship, a type of many similar ones, perishes not with the

fading flowers of a college commencement, nor can it be hid

among the personal and sacred treasures of one man's memory.-
11

146 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

It breathes perennial sweetness among all the churches. Mr.
J. S. Hillyer of West New Brighton writes :

I remember Mr. Hurst as a very studious and scholarly man, an
easy and pleasant speaker, one to whom you could not help listening,
as he never failed to obtain and hold the attention of his hearers.

Mrs. Mary S. Steers, of the same place, says :

All my recollections of Mr. Hurst are very pleasant : he was a man
one would remember, if ever having had the slightest acquaintance
with him. A very sincere Christian gentleman.

A very pleasing memorial of this pastorate is the name,
"Ravenhurst," given to the beautiful home of one of his most
ardent admirers, Mr. Read Benedict, of Port Richmond, who
writes :

The church greatly prospered under his administration, and his
ability as a preacher became widely known. His active work espe-
cially with young people, with whom he was very popular, soon began
to tell greatly to the spiritual advantage of the church. His Sunday
school addresses were models of excellence. The first year he had
one of the largest revivals the church ever experienced, about two
hundred conversions. I recall his invitation to visit the parsonage,
where he read to me much of the manuscript of his History of
Rationalism. I remember predicting at that time that the work would
make him a bishop of our much-loved church. This scholarly man,
while having great determination and fixity of purpose, had a manner
as gentle as that of the most refined woman.

On the last Sunday with his people of Trinity, October 14,
1866, he received about fifty new members into the church,
and an engrossed testimonial was presented to him by Mr.
G. P. Disosway on behalf of the congregation. It rings with
true friendship and loyal devotion :

The people of your charge desire to unite with you in thanks to
our heavenly Father for having enjoyed a successful and profitable
ministry among them. They gratefully acknowledge the faithful-
ness of your services to themselves and others, in preaching the

At West New Brighton 147

gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ with singleness of purpose and sin-
cerity, with prayer and zeal, not having, the fear or favor of man,
but the honor and glory of God in advocating the kingdom of his
Son.

They cannot, and believe they ougbt not, forbear to express to
you their sincere thanks and love for your sympathies in their joys
and prosperity, as well as in their afflictions and bereavements. Nor
can they fail to acknowledge you as the tender Christian friend as
well as their counselor to sacred duties and the minister of heavenly
consolations, especially to this congregation.

They, with many of our land, now look upon you as one having an
honorable place in its sacred literature, whose printed works will
continue to advance the objects of true religion and your own min-
istry, after you shall have entered into the promised rest of the
faithful servant. It has been the crowning glory of your life among
us to witness a gracious outpouring of the Spirit of God, such as
we and many others have seen in this congregation ; and in Germany,
the far-distant land where, in the wise providence of our Lord, you
are going, may you too teach Christ, gather many more precious
souls into the Redeemer's fold, and present them to him before you
yourself shall ascend on high to receive the promised crown of glory !
We pray God that you may be spared many years for this holy service.

We have a glimpse of how he touched men in other con-
fessions and in the higher walks of literature, and secured
recognition for his message and work, in this belated note
from George William Curtis, the famous editor of Harper's
Easy Chair, who lived near and had given several lectures in
the church. It was penned when the ex-pastor was two days
out from Sandy Hook on his way to his new work in Germany :

October 22. — I have only just returned to the island with my family
after a long absence, and I find the very kind remembrance from
your hands in the form of the Centenary documents. I am truly sorry
that I was not able to join in the celebration at your church, for
I know not how any serious man, of whatever denomination, can
fail to rejoice in commemorating the Christian fervor and sweet
inspiration of John and Charles Wesley.

148 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

XXVIII
The Teacher-Elect

The Call to Germany

To the mind and heart of Trinity's pastor, who had during
his first year drawn his people into the most affectionate re-
lations with himself and had garnered the fruits of an ex-
tensive revival, there came early in the second year a new
question : "Shall I leave this prosperous and happy field and
enter that of teaching young preachers in the Fatherland?"
The correspondence of that summer throws light upon the
successive stages by which he traveled from doubt to convic-
tion and decision on the step which was to separate him for a
series of years from the dear associations of the homeland.

From Dr. L. S. Jacoby, Bremen, May 3, 1866:

Would you be willing to come to our Institute as Theological
Tutor in the place of Brother Warren, who has served his five years
and now has received a call from the new Theological School in
Boston? If you would be willing to come, you would have to agree
to remain at least five years with us. You will have to give Dogmatik
1st and 2d Class, Exegesis, Church History, Logic, and also English
Instruction to the 1st Class. You will have an opportunity to preach.
You will find a nice cottage with three rooms and two bedrooms fur-
nished, and your salary paid by the Missionary Society will be $1,000
in gold. Will you be so kind and write to Bishop Janes and to myself
your answer after due reflection? Our next semester commences
with the first of August, when we would expect you to be here. Dr.
Warren sends his love to you.

From Bishop E. S. Janes, New York, June 19 :

Having learned that Rev. Dr. Warren, the teacher in the Mission
Institute at Bremen, Germany, expects to return to this country next
month, I have applied to the Mission Board for an appropriation to

The Call to Germany 149

send out a successor. Such appropriation has been made by the Board
this afternoon. I have also consulted my associate in the superintend-
ency of that Mission, Bishop Ames, who concurs in my so doing, and
I now proffer you that appointment, Theological Tutor in the Mission
Institute. I hope it will be consistent with your views to accept this
appointment and to enter upon it early in August next. Please let
me hear from you immediately. If you accept the appointment, please
notify your Presiding Elder promptly. For all details of duty and
sailing, you will correspond with Rev. Dr. Harris, Corresponding
Secretary.

July 13. — Your second letter was received by due course. I never
advise anyone to leave the strictly pastoral work. I am of the
opinion that the appointment to Bremen is one of great importance
and usefulness. We cannot obtain ministers in those countries in
the same way we do here. If we have them we must train them.
The progress of the church there depends very much on our success
in that school. It has been eminently successful. I do not see that
five years there in training young men for the ministry should lessen
your pastoral adaptation afterward. I do not think Dr. Butler was
injured by his seven years of missionary service in India. His work
was much more secular than teaching in Bremen would be. What
was the design of Providence in inclining you to learn German? Is
not your knowledge of that language a talent? Is not this appoint-
ment the place to use it for the Master? I shall be glad to hear from
you again. I have not tendered the appointment to anyone else. May
God guide you by his counsel !

August 24. — I repeat, I never urge a brother to leave the pastoral
work for any other service. If you see it right to leave the pastoral
work for any other appointment, I know of none which I would
think so spiritual and so near pastoral as that I have proposed to
you in Germany. I prefer appointing you to it to either of the other
candidates: (1) Because Brother Jacoby and other parties concerned
desire you. (2) Because you are older and more experienced in the
ministry than either of them. (3) Because I have good reason to
believe you understand our doctrines thoroughly and believe and
teach them as Wesley and Watson and Hedding did. I am unwilling
to put anyone in that important mission appointment until I am
satisfied of his orthodoxy. I am convinced, if, after the manner in
which you have been led to prepare yourself for the appointment
and been called to it by the authorities of the church, you hesitate
to accept it for any other reason than a conviction that it is your
duty to continue in the pastoral office, you will greatly mistake your

150 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

duty before God. It is not religious to stop to ask, Is it a pleasant
appointment? What will be the salary? What will be the effects
upon my standing in the Conference? The one question is, What
is the will of God? What is Christian duty? In my judgment the
appointment will prove an exceedingly pleasant one.

From Ff. B. Ridgaway, New York, September 28 :

I have heard without surprise, but not without regret, that your
determination is settled to go to Germany. It is, I trust, the direction
of Providence ; and I doubt not that God will watch over you and
your dear family and abundantly prosper you in your new and respon-
sible field. My selfishness rebels against this decision. I feel that
your departure will subtract very much from my own personal already
too limited happiness. Yet I will submit. At the throne of grace —
in the sweet fellowship of faith and love — of work in our beloved
church we may still and will be close together.

From Frank N. Barrett, October 18:

Dear Pastor: I would be doing an injustice to my own feelings
if I failed in giving some expression to the sorrow I feel at your
leaving us. Not only have I found in you a true and loving pastor,
but a good and useful friend, one from whom I have been taught to
take nobler, purer, higher thoughts of life, its aims, its objects.
Though a year ago ambition urged me on to strive for fortune and
worldly honors, I think that now I can truly say that the influence of
your life on mine has been such as to lead me to devote my time,
my energy, to the improvement of my "talent," so that it shall be
useful in my Master's vineyard, and to say, "Thy will, not mine, be
done."

On the departure of the teacher-elect with his wife and two
children Mrs. Hurst made a few notes :

Left America October 20, 1866, steamer America. I can never
forget that day or the feelings I then experienced. Over seventy
of our particular friends came to the steamer to see us off. Among
them were Rev. Drs. Carlton, Harris, Sewall, Rev. Brothers Watkins.
Ridgaway, Roche, Hilliard, Freeman, Whitney, Van Sant, and Simp-
son ; Philip Phillips, the sweet singer, played and sang a parting
song; Mr. and Mrs. Bailey and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. John Hurst
from Baltimore; Mr. Wilde's family from Newark; Mrs. Norton

Second Farewell to America 151

and Mr. Adams ; Mr. Barrett and wife, Staten Island ; Mr. and Mrs.
Benedict and children (the kindness of the latter in our preparation
to leave America can never be forgotten), and other very dear
friends. It was a delightful day and the parting salute was given at
1 :30 after the anchor was loosed. For ten minutes we could see the
waving of handkerchiefs, and then all was lost. I tried to distinguish
the face of one, my sweet sister Jennie, who traveled one day and
night to be present at our parting, the only one of my relatives who
could come.

While the worker with his family is afloat on the Atlantic
it will be of interest to take note of his first book, the History
of Rationalism, embracing a survey of the Present State of
Protestant Theology, and of the general impress made by him
upon the ministers and people of the Newark Conference.

152 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

XXIX
The Author

His First Book, History of Rationalism

Hurst's History of Rationalism was a growth of about nine
years from observation, reading, and study, both in Germany
and America, after his entrance upon university life at Halle.
The germ of this intellectual polemic and spiritual apologetic
was a deep conviction that nothing was so much needed in
the world of theological thought as a clear and articulated
statement of the fundamental features of that modern phase
of skepticism known as rationalism. To this labor of love and
helpfulness he assiduously clung from the time when he began
to write on Rationalism for the church papers while still
preaching on Carlisle Circuit. The entries in his Journal for
March 2, 11, and 12, 1858, show the beginnings of his writing
on the theme. His own statement of his desire to write more
at length for publication was in this language, found in his
Journal of January 3, i860, while in his first year at Passaic:

I would like to commence authorship in earnest with a faithful and
earnest description of Rationalism. To many minds this is a subject
which possesses not the slightest interest. They look on it as fanatic
infidelity. For my own part, I think the subject bears a most serious
appearance and demands a Christian heart and a good judgment to
write its history. Soon after Conference I hope to commence this
pleasure. I know pretty well what materials I shall employ. I
thought at first that this design was fanciful and would not last. But
the subject has been dwelling in my mind ever since I was in Ger-
many and bore witness to the terrible ravages of Rationalism in the
native land of Luther. Time has rather deepened my desire to write
on the subject than erased it. I feel, too, as if I could make a read-
able work. I may never finish my task. I may die with the plan in

History of Rationalism 153

mind ; but as well that plan, perhaps, as any other. I hope always
to have some noble project in view.

The detailed progress of the composition of the work and
of the broadening of its scope from a treatment of some of the
Phases of Rationalism to a History will appear from Journal
entries already noted for the following dates: September 19,
1861 ; November 12, 1862; February 24 and 25, May 13,
July 14 and 25, August 1, October 25, and December 3, 1863;
April 9, August 5, November 12, and December 4, 1864;
January 6 and September 7, 1865. The initial step toward
putting the work in the hands of his publisher, and the char-
acteristic caution of that discriminating man, may be seen in
the letter from Charles Scribner, written December 30, 1864:

Some days since I received a note from the Rev. Robert Aikman,
of your place (Elizabeth), inclosing a synopsis of a work, History
of Rationalism, written by you and which he proposed to me in your
behalf for publication, requesting that I would communicate with
you. I have looked over the headings of the chapters with much
interest, and, were the time more favorable, I should be disposed to
look at it with a view of publication. The subject is certainly one
of deep and increasing interest to every thoughtful mind, though
from its nature the work, I fear, would have a limited circulation.
It would, however, depend much on the manner of its execution,
whether you have been able to treat it so as to interest the popular
mind — I mean intelligent readers outside of the clergy.

I am really at loss what to say as to entertaining your work. When
you come in town I would be pleased to have a personal interview
with you respecting it ; or if you choose, under the circumstances, to
send me the manuscript any time after the first week in January, I
will engage to give it attention.

It was published by Scribner in the fall of 1865. About a
year after its publication in America an enlarged edition was
published in London. In preparation for this he noted in his
Journal on July 14, 1866:

Having finished my additions to History of Rationalism, and
Triibner & Co. having engaged to bring out an English edition, I to-

154 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

day sent out the copy, being about ioo fresh pages added to the
American edition.

The welcome extended to this first child of his brain and
heart and the measure of its mission for good may be learned
in part from some of the greetings it received from the press
and from the testimony of a few of the multitude who profited
by its reading and study :

You have rendered the Christian public of America a noble service.
Many of our young preachers will learn more from your pages re-
specting the history and present state of theology throughout the
world than they would do could they make the old-fashioned pere-
grinatio scholastica through all the countries described. The work
does honor to the rising scholarship of our church, and will prove, I
trust, the first fruits of new harvests. — Dr. William F. Warren.

Our scholarly brother of the Newark Conference has boiled down
the post-Lutheran rationalism into what, despite its ingredients, is a
very savory dish. "There is death in the pot." In fact, there is
nothing but death in it. And yet this "man of God" casts into it here
and there little handfuls of healthful meal ground from good seed
of the kingdom, and so makes it safe as well as palatable. — Gilbert
Haven, in Christian Advocate.

It evinces much learning and discrimination on the part of the
author, and is thoroughly fair and dispassionate in tone. In nearly
all cases the views of men whose works are commented upon are
given in their own language, thus rendering it evident that they are
in no respect misrepresented. It is much more compactly and closely
written than is Lecky's recently published work on the same subject:
and, though less pretentious in its style, is really an abler book. —
The Independent.

Mr. Lecky's object is to trace the operation of the spirit of Ration-
alism in the details of actual life, public and private. Mr. Hurst goes
deeper down, and searches out the causes of the changes and pro-
gressions that the other writer recognizes without attempting to
account for. There is consequently much in each book that supple-
ments the other, and the two may well be studied together with profit.
— New York Times.

Here is found the clearest view of Theodore Parker and his in-
fluence which we have ever seen. — Boston Recorder.

The spirit of his book, as befits an historian, is beautifully calm.

History of Rationalism 155

Even the most mischievous errorists are not called hard names;
their motives are not impeached, and their work is shown to have
been the occasion of good, in pointing out the weak spots in the
church's defenses, and in calling out heroes able both to ward off
assaults and to fortify on surer principles. — The Methodist.

Never before has an Arminian written of Holland, its struggles,
its achievements, its literature, its learning, and its theology, under
the control of a more candid and truth-loving spirit, than this his-
torian has shown. He has indeed done what few in this country
have been willing to do — ascribe to Holland the glory she earned in
the early struggles of Europe to break the papal yoke. — The Chris-
tian Intelligencer.

It sets out to set in order the rise, progress, and present position
of the scholastic infidelity of modern Germany, and it accomplishes
what it undertakes. We like its straightforward narrative style, its
lucid arrangement of facts, and its plain and obviously natural con-
secution of events. — Daniel Curry, in Christian Advocate.

Confident in the power of his faith to ultimately rise triumphant
from attack, he exhorts his brethren not to offer opposition to the
progress of science, not to scout all theories, but wait the full devel-
opment of science. In a word, he contends for the refutation of
error, not for its unreasoning suppression. — American and Oriental
Literary Record.

He shows much skill in tracing the progress and spread of false
views from often small commencements. His spirit is thoroughly
evangelical, and his qualifications for his task are amply certified in
these pages. — Boston Review.

It treats the history of Rationalism with a fullness and complete-
ness rivaled by no other English writer, and evinces industrious and
extended research and copious learning. It gives a map of the field
of free thought in the present age, showing fairly its length and
breadth, where it trenches on the domain of faith, and where it reaches
into the dark territory of unbelief. For ordinary readers it contains
all the information on the subject they will be likely to need; and for
theological students it is an excellent introduction and guide to the
study of modern aberrations. — Dr. John McClintock, in Methodist
Quarterly Review.

We cannot easily conceive a better mental or spiritual discipline for
young men than to study and master these subjects. — Dr. Joseph
Angus.

It will be found an exceedingly useful manual of information. The
literary and controversial history of Rationalism from the time im-

156 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

mediately succeeding the Reformation to the present day is well and
fairly described. The English reader will find abundant notices of
continental authors who have played and are playing an important
part in theological discussions, which are not brought together any-
where in an equally convenient form. — Westminster Review.

Mr. Hurst has confined himself to the literary department and the-
ological aspects of Rationalism, which, while it is not regarded by
him as an unmixed evil, yet, being born under the eclipse of con-
science, has often been the offspring of pride and self-indulgence,
has been coincident with stagnation of the religious life, and, in spite
of appearances to the contrary, has outwitted itself and is staggering
to its doom. The author skillfully shows the filiation of the rational-
istic school, which took its rise under Semler. — British Quarterly
Review.

I have, been familiar with his books from the first issues and have
found them profitable, and his History of Rationalism in particular
I found to be very useful as well as interesting. — Dr. C. W . Gallagher.

I had just entered the ministry and was fresh from college, did not
know how to read a strong book like a man of riper years ; but I was
then strong enough to derive great benefit from this plain, brief,
scholarly, and vigorous presentation of rationalism. No one but a
scholar could go through the literature quoted. — Dr. W . H. Hickman.

I knew John Fletcher Hurst first through his work on German
Rationalism, which was very helpful to me, as to many others, as a
preparation for understanding the religious attitude of German
scholars. — Dr. Wesley C. Sazvycr.

I read with great pleasure and profit his History of Rationalism,
which enlightened me more upon the subject of which it treated than
any I have ever read. — Dr. A. H. Ames.

Your style is lucid, and particularly so for the metaphysical sub-
tleties you have to deal with. You crystallize into a small mass the
immense systems of speculation — and they are clear crystals, too.
You contrive to give in a few short, sharp sentences the peculiarities
of each. You enliven what might otherwise be sometimes heavy and
laborious to read, by an easy and natural introduction of similes, and
your general deductions are philosophical and (have I the hardihood
to say it?) to me seem correct! I wish I had written it! I think it
a capital book to put into the hands of some of our youthful skeptics.
Poor fellows — their speculations strike them as new, and they wonder
the world never thought of them before! — Dr. Denis Wortman.

Your portly and pregnant volume came to hand. I am delighted
at your success as a bookmaker. I have read much of it and am

History of Rationalism 157

struck with the richness of the matter and the felicitousness of the
diction. You have made a valuable contribution to us lazier preachers
and permitted us to enter into the fruits of your labors. — Dr. IV. A.
Bartlett.

I am more than pleased; such beauty of language, clearness of ex-
pression that a child might understand, will be one of its great sources
of influence and benefit to the rising generation. — Mrs. Lydia A.
Bailey.

While this work was in progress we were frequently together in
his study, and I had the privilege of seeing the evolution of the book.
It met a felt want in the church. It was possibly the most influential
of all his writings. — President H. A. Butt2.

It was one of my inspirations when it first appeared. It stands to-
day as a valuable authority on that subject. It was very popular, not
only to the scholar, but the layman has read it. In the bibliological
notes written by the Nestor of Calvinism, Dr. Charles Hodge, he
says that it is the best book yet produced in the English language on
that subject. — Bishop Cyrus D. Foss.

His History of Rationalism, on account of its style and little preach-
ments, is as interesting as a novel. — Dr. C. B. Spencer.

158 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

XXX
The Brother Beloved

The Hearts of His Brethren

His relations with the preachers of Newark Conference were
those of warm and sincere brotherliness, and the departure to
his new post of duty by one who had so endeared himself to
his fellow preachers evoked many expressions of tender and
genuine affection. The strength of the esteem and love in
which he was held by the Conference after eight years of
association is but partially expressed in these tokens from his
closest associates in the ministry. The language of the
Methodist Episcopal Preachers' Association of the city of
Newark on October 8, 1866, was :

We, as members of the Newark Conference, hereby express the
regret we feel in losing the society and fellowship of our beloved
brother. Our best wishes and prayers go with him to his newly ap-
pointed field of labor ; and we will cordially welcome him to a place
among us on his return.

Also resolved that a committee of two be appointed to represent
this meeting on the occasion of the departure of Dr. Hurst from
Hoboken.

R. B. Lockwood, of Stony Point, New York, says :

Brother Hurst was a close observer of the work of the Conference,
but seldom speaking on the floor. He was highly esteemed for his
brotherly sympathy, loving consideration, and interest in the general
work. In his several appointments he was assiduous and painstaking.
A faithful, kind pastor, he showed a profound conviction for the truth
in his public utterances. Uncomplaining in his disposition, ruling his
spirit well, he was highly esteemed by the brethren of the ministry
and laity, and his integrity was above suspicion. He had no fads
nor twists, and was a reliable all-round man.

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The Hearts of His Brethren 159

George H. Whitney wrote him two days before sailing :

Plainfield, N. J., October 18.
Many kind and earnest words of farewell and well-wishing are
spoken to you by the titled and the great. Suffer one of your hum-
blest friends to add his hearty good-bye. Hurst, your friendship has
always been a joy to me. Your kind words have ever blessed me.
Knowing as I do your strong desire to be useful, you ought to be
made glad when I tell you that your words, your companionship, your
counsel, have been invaluable to me. I am a better, a stronger man
for having had your fellowship and love. Many will miss you ; but,
it seems to me, none so much as I. There is so much of acquaintance-
ship that is merely external, so much friendship tainted with envy,
jealousy, or indifference, that it is indeed a blessed experience to find
a friend who is all over and over a friend. I had counted on many a
pleasant and profitable hour with you in the coming years. My heart
is very sad as I write. Memory of other days comes up — joys, sor-
rows, friendships, separations, all remind me of the blessedness of that
bright world where we shall all have time to know one another, and
where graves and seas can never separate bodies nor hearts.

George F. Dickinson says :

His was an attractive nature. In every appointment to which he
was assigned success marked his administrations. In Trinity a great
religious awakening came upon his congregations, spreading through
the community and bringing into the church many converts. The
work had the gospel mark of permanency. Its fruits remain. He was
an example to his people of the truths he taught. His devotion to his
companion and to his family was marked for its simplicity and reality.
He was a favorite among the youth of his church, always ready to
give counsel, encouragement, and sympathy.

George W. Treat says :

He filled a place in the hearts of his brethren of the Conference,
and his influence was both an inspiration and a benediction.

Especially near to his heart were the members of his own
class of 1858. The affectionate playfulness of a classmate
who, after a life of exceeding usefulness at home and abroad,
preceded him but by a little to the final home was treasured

160 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

in this postscript to a letter on a weighty matter connected
with the mission in China, from Stephen L. Baldwin :

P. S. — The shaking of this train, on the West Shore Road, makes
my chirography almost as bad as yours. If you consider that an im-
pudent remark, inasmuch as I am about 400 miles out of your reach,
just take that "Last-of-the-Hamilton- Amendment" gavel, and whack
this letter, instead of the author. The letter will not feel the rap ;
the author might.

Hurrah for the class of '58 —

The ever true, and always straight !

When it shall pass beyond the flood,

'Twill leave no other half as good !

From the heart and lips of another of his class, the one most
intimately and continuously in personal association with him.
President Henry A. Buttz, came these words at the memorial
service of the Conference in 1904 :

But some of us will recall Bishop Hurst as his classmates who were
admitted to the Newark Conference at its first session, ten of whom
stood side by side to be ordained to the office of deacon and after-
ward to the office of elder. Their names, in the order in which they
appeared in the first Minutes of this Conference, are : Samuel J. Morris,
Gilbert H. Winans, John F. Hurst, Solomon Parsons, Henry A. Buttz,
John F. Dodd, Alexander Craig, William E. Blakeslee, Stephen L.
Baldwin, Sylvester H. Opdyke. Four of that number, Opdyke, Par-
sons, Baldwin, and Hurst, are not, for God has taken them. Six of
that number still remain to mourn his loss and honor his memory.
We were ten then. Are we not still ten ?

At Bremen 161

XXXI
The Teacher-Traveler

At Bremen and at Large

We had a most delightful voyage, the sea being almost as calm as
New York Bay nearly the whole distance. We were ten days in
reaching Southampton and three more Bremen. We were very kindly
received by Dr. Jacoby and family, and after remaining there two
days and nights we went into our house, which was partially fur-
nished. We purchased our own carpets, china, and kitchen utensils.

Such is the brief account by Mrs. Hurst of the transfer from
Staten Island to the teeming city on the Weser. Of the man
who was Director of the Mission Institute and of the work
out of which and for the development of which the school had
grown, let Dr. Hurst tell in his own fascinating way :

In 1846 in a little mission hall in Cincinnati an undersized but keen-
eyed German Methodist minister was preaching the gospel. On the
very front seat was another young German, busily taking notes from
the announcement of the text. After a time this young man couldn't
guide his pencil, for it danced up and down the paper irregularly.
He couldn't see the page, for his eyes had a strange dimness over
them. He knew not why it was so, but he was weeping profusely.
At the close of the sermon he went to the preacher, and told him that
something was troubling him exceedingly, and it seemed to him that
he was under the control of an unknown power. The preacher knew
at once what it was. With tenderness he said, "I think God's Spirit
is striving with you." Again and again the young inquirer came, and
for him and with him the preacher prayed, till finally he came out
into "the glorious liberty of the children of God." The preacher was
Rev. William Nast, the founder of German Methodism in America.
The young man was the secretary of an infidel club who had come
to take down the sermon, and then, going back to his fellows, make
merry as he riddled it to pieces. But God had other plans for him.
Three years later we see him before the Missionary Committee in
12

1 62 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

New York, pleading with the brethren to send him to Germany. Only
authorize him and he would go. So he went. His name is Ludwig
S. Jacoby, the immortal founder of Methodism on the continent of
Europe, and the first one to establish Sunday schools of any kind in
Germany.

Wise advice came to him from his friend Dr. Agnew, who
wrote him on December I, 1866:

You must not forget to take sufficient outdoor exercise or to break
your tasks of indoor study by occasional recreation.

His published letters in the Methodist, the Christian Ad-
vocate, and Zion's Herald, and his private correspondence
kept him in vital and informing touch with affairs social and
ecclesiastic in America. George H. Whitney wrote him on
December 1 8 :

Elder Hilliard says your Methodist letter is even better than the
one in the Advocate. Next Sunday I go to Newton to help them
raise $1,000 on parsonage; and I've got your "69 No-Yes" as one
of my best illustrations. [His graphic reference to Signor Tecchio's
diplomatic oral report of the result of the vote in Venetia on the
union of that state with the kingdom of Italy and its removal from
Austrian rule, only 69 negatives against 641,758 yeas.] So you see
you'll speak in Newton next Sunday ! Speak on, my dear brother !
From across the broad Atlantic send your tropes and figures, your Yes,
your No, your eloquence and zeal, send your soul, your burning
truths; stir the church. Thirty thousand eyes are upon your printed
thoughts; and, though thousands of miles away in old Bremen, yet
are you present in the cis-Atlantic churches.

From H. B. Ridgaway, December 27 :

With the time at your command you cannot fail to acquire rapidly
and to be able to furnish not only interesting letters, but contributions
to our permanent literature. Your letters strike the right note. We
need facts — accounts of men, principles, things, movements; these
will take and profit.

William Nast, whose interest in the mission was intense,
greets him on January 22, 1867:

Nast, McClintock, Childs 163

I am rejoiced to hear that you are so well pleased with your new
and important field of labor, and that the prospects of the work in
Germany are so bright. It is truly amazing, how exceeding abun-
dantly God has blessed the labors of Brother Jacoby. Whatever he
undertook, from the beginning, the Lord prospered. The founda-
tions of the work seem to be as firm as the everlasting rocks, and
the dimensions into which it is growing are indescribably grand.
Truly, this is God's work. It seems as if our work in America was
only preparatory to the greater one in Germany.

When it looked as if the new theological seminary which

Daniel Drew had proposed to build and endow would be

located at Carmel, New York, its president. Dr. McClintock,

wrote Dr. Hurst on March 21, 1867:

The Drew Seminary is to begin in September. Faculty not yet
chosen. I wish you were here to be one of them, but that must wait
for a while. In the meantime I wish to get the fundamental books
for the library. You can help in this. Tell me, (1) Can your
Bremen House collect the books we may order, from all Germany,
and pack and ship them to us, as cheaply or more so than an agent
here can do it? (2) Can our periodicals (we shall get all that are
worth taking) come in the same way, or better through agents here?
(3) Can we secure any extra discounts by buying a larger order at
once ? Please answer me on these points, or any other you may think
of for the library. In your Methodist correspondence put in abstracts
of new books, when you can. We commence at Carmel in the build-
ing already erected, which will accommodate sixty students and is
beautifully fitted up. Do you know any young preacher who has
graduated at college, and gone through a theological course, who
would be fit to work in Hebrew and Greek, and has good stuff in
him? We shall all have work enough to do in preparing the ministry
of the next generation. God help us to do it well ! I heartily wish
Warren could be with us at Carmel, but he seems to be a fixture at
the new school to be built at Boston.

From George W. Childs, May 6 :

I should be happy to receive from you. as frequently as you can
supply them for the American Literary Gazette, notices of new and
important literary matters and publications, which may happen to fall
under your notice, and which would probably interest American
readers or students.

164 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

To Dr. Nast, whom he loved and trusted as a father, he
wrote on May 25 :

I hope to make some headway soon on a History of Protestant
Theology. I have many authorities already; some preliminary labors
begun — outline. If I had room I could give you the synopsis and
ask you for your judgment. I am as much pleased as ever with my
position here. I think it is God's work that he makes me labor in
Germany.

The position of theological tutor at the Missions-Anstalt
involved his teaching candidates for the ministry in the first
and second year classes in systematic theology, and those of
the first class in exegesis, church history, logic, and English.
His familiarity with both written and spoken German, his
college and Conference studies, his broad reading and travel,
and his ceaseless application to the work in hand made him
from the first the easy master of the situation. He won his
way into the hearts of his colleagues and fastened to himself
the young Germans who in succession came under his
stimulating tuition.

The quiet routine of the first year in Bremen was enlivened
by a trip with Mrs. Hurst in middle April to the Exposition
in Paris, taking in a brief visit to Cologne, with its growing
cathedral and the house of Rubens, to Mainz, Strassburg,
Bingen, and Bonn.

Mrs. Hurst writes April 20 to her sister, Mrs. Snow :

Mr. Hurst seems to enjoy it as much as if he had never been here
in Paris before. He gets along nicely speaking French, and is under-
stood very well indeed.

For about six weeks after their return to Bremen, April 27.
he says :

Not much work done from this time until June. Suffered from eyes
and a burning brain.

In Switzerland 165

The leading question that came before the session of the

Conference held in Zurich in June was that of the proposed

removal of the Institute to a more central and southern city.

He greatly favored such change of location, while Dr. Jacoby

opposed. His letters throw light on the journey to the seat of

Conference, the discussions there, and his travels after its

close :

Basel, Switzerland, June 19.
To Mrs. Hurst :

How I would love to see the dear little children ! Johnny might
pull me off the sofa, and Clara might wear my spectacles all she
pleases. I went to see my old rooms of ten years ago at Heidelberg.

Zurich, June 23.
To Mrs. Hurst:

The Mission-House will certainly go south, if things go as they
look. Bishop Kingsley told me privately last night that Dr. Durbin
wishes the Mission-House to go south by all means, if the brethren
wish it. I think the Bishop wants it south. The debate will come
up in a day or two.

Zurich, June 26.
To Mrs. Hurst :

Conference closed last night about 10 o'clock. The Institute goes
to Frankfort. I am one of the committee to select a site. Only three
preachers voted for Bremen, but a number for Heilbronn, though
there was a large majority for Frankfort. But there will be some
time before we can find out whether we can build there. The new
building will not be commenced immediately, though I suppose we
shall move to Frankfort in a year. Dr. Jacoby's son-in-law, Achard,
is as independent as a wood-chopper. He was chairman of the com-
mittee that reported Frankfort, and he defended it the strongest of
all. He doesn't let anybody do his thinking. The Conference has
been very kind to me. Brother Jacoby proposed resolutions of wel-
come, and the Conference adopted them enthusiastically.

Dr. Wesley C. Sawyer says :

At Zurich his speeches in German on the Conference floor mani-
fested at once his scholarship and his business discretion. I accom-
panied him to the museum of relics of the Lake Dwellers of the Swiss
lakes. The curator of this collection was quite thoroughly informed

166 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

upon the probable character and history of the tribes that in early
times fashioned the curious objects of domestic utility which are
credited to the Lake Dwellers. I was struck by the eagerness with
which all this information was gathered up and filed away for con-
venient reference by Dr. Hurst.

Samaden, Switz., June 30.
To Mrs. Hurst :

I left Zurich on Wednesday p. m. and, after a ride of four hours
past beautiful lakes and grand mountains, I reached Ragatz, where I
joined Rev. Mr. Wortman. I went to the Baths of Pfeffers, where a
broad stream cuts its way through a mountain range. The mountains
close over the chasm in some places, and only in the middle of the day
does the sun come down. I walked through this narrow way about
three hundred yards. Next morning we went to Chur ; then by stage
to Thusis, and up to see the Via Mala, or Bad Way, where the Rhine
cuts its way through the Alps. It is grand beyond description. At
Thusis we got our long Alpine sticks, and on Friday morning started
on our tramp. We went through the Schyn Pass, where we saw his-
torical old castles and had a miserable dinner. We walked about
5^2 hours that day, slept at night in a hotel at Miihlen on the bank of
a stream, the Albula, which at that spot is a waterfall. It was pretty
noisy, but we slept splendidly. Yesterday we ascended the Julier
Pass, walking up many thousand feet. We were above the region of
trees. All was rock, scarce grass, but abundance of wild flowers —
violets and many others. By and by we reached the snow and we
had a little snowball scuffling — strange enough for the last of June.
In ascending we saw the celebrated Engadine Valley, with beautiful
green lakes stretching down it and neat villages, and the bathing place
of Saint Moritz ; we drank some of the water, and it was very much
like Saratoga water. We stopped at Samaden at night, and each of us
has a double room, well furnished and in every way very comfort-
able. We start to-morrow morning up a high mountain, the Piz
(pronounced Pitts) Languard. No guides have yet become necessary,
but whenever they do we shall employ them. You need not be afraid
of my running any risk — I have long ago passed that business.

Trafoi, Tyrol, July 4.
To Mrs. Hurst :

We slept at night amid snow and ice, on top of the Bernina Pass.
Of course, we had to wrap up warm. It freezes at night there. We
had a splendid day altogether. Next morning we started down the
Bernina Pass, passing some great glaciers and stopping to take some

Gilbert Haven 167

milk at a little village. An old woman gave us a big loaf of hard
bread. I saw an ax near by, and when I struck the bread with it and
it did not crack the crust, it caused great merriment among the vil-
lagers. I got another ax, and it did not break then. So one man
ran to his house and got another loaf which we managed to eat.

Munich, Germany, July 17.
To Mrs. Hurst :

I never uttered half my fears about my own health for many
months before I left home. Now I have completely recovered, and
owe it all to the goodness of my heavenly Father in so disposing my
matters at home that I could get the mountain air and freedom from
restraint which I needed. The vacation has done more for my eyes
and my whole body than six months of inactivity at home could have
done. I thank you much for your self-sacrificing willingness that I
should stay so long from home. I finished up my vacation in the
Tyrol very pleasantly, and yesterday p. m. got here.

The arrival in the cottage home at 3 Steffensweg of their
second son, Carl Bailey, on August 16, 1867, one day prior to
his father's own anniversary, was a joy to the happy family.
From Philip Schaff came this bit of news written on June 29 :

The Drew Seminary is to be located near Madison and Morris-
town, N. J. A splendid mansion with over one hundred acres of
ground has just been bought for the purpose. I suppose you will be
connected with this institution yet. They need just such men as you
to build it up.

Gilbert Haven, from his editorial chair, wrote him spicily,
July 17:

I ought to have acknowledged your very cordial and very accept-
able note before, but somehow it seems more of a job to send a note
across the Atlantic Ferry than it does Fulton; and so while I would
have said "Thank you" long ago had you written from Staten Island,
I have kept delaying it since the salutation came from the flats of
Bremen. I know how refreshing to your far-off eyes are these Ameri-
can bonbons. I remember how the Advocate and Herald looked after
I had crossed the Mediterranean and spent months without a sight of
a Methodist face in flesh or type. The ocean affects papers as it does
persons — gives them perhaps a flavor and a quality above their nature.

i68 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

I trust you find the Herald thus improved and made acceptable above
its real merit. We are trying to do something with it by the way of
contributions and other outlays. I should be glad to see your face
occasionally, I would say oftener, but that I have only six European
Americans on its staff; yet there is always room for first-class things,
and they will get the preference. When anything of especial note
meets your eye or ear, you may let the Herald share it with the
Advocate and Methodist.

Methodism is beginning a career of wealthy endowments. May it
still be humble and faithful. The infidel hosts are upon us and we
have many battles yet to fight for the Lord. May you be strengthened
for your share in this service !

From H. B. Ridgaway, August 14:

So you have seen Fox and the Fosses. I suppose they will soon be
home, when I hope to hear and touch somebody that has talked with
and touched you.

He preached the dedicatory sermon of the new Methodist
Episcopal chapel in Berlin on November 3. from Rom. 1. 16,
of which a report was made by Fales H. Newhall in Zion's
Herald of December 12. On this trip to Berlin he visited the
celebrated Professor Hengstenberg, to whom he bore a letter
of introduction from Dr. Philip Schaff. Many in America and
Germany had supposed that Dr. Schaff would be elected to
the chair of Church History at the University of Berlin.
Hengstenberg had been opposed to his election. Dr. Hurst
says :

What reason do you suppose he gave me for opposing Dr. Schaff?
"Dr. Schaff had been born in free Switzerland and had lived in the
United States !" He regarded these facts sufficient of themselves to
unfit any man to be professor of theology in Berlin.

From his uncle, John Hurst, April 15, 1868:

Bishop Simpson stayed with us during our Conference. We en-
joyed his company very much. He spoke of you frequently in the
highest terms. I showed him your letter in which you alluded to him
very kindly, and which he appreciated.

In Heligoland 169

From G. H. Whitney, May 12:

Dr. Mattison has just written an article on "Decline of Romanism"
for the Quarterly. He showed me MS. wherein he had made use of
something from one of your letters, and he said to me, "By the way,
that Hurst is a man."

From H. B. Ridgaway, August 4 :

Dear Hurst, it sickens me to hear you complain of the little you
accomplish. No man in the church is working harder and doing more.
My fear is you are overworking and cutting short that better end of
your life, when you could work with the grandest results. My sweet,
precious brother, do let up; ease off, take care of yourself. The church
and the world need too greatly just such men as you, for your days
to be prematurely cut off.

From John A. Roche, August 10:

My dear Hurst, I can't tell how much social satisfaction you impart
to the people about you in Germany, but your absence has proven the
end of the meetings of P. D.'s. We have not had one since you and I
had that good time with Fox at Carmel. He is still there. Ridgaway
is back at Saint Paul's, Watkins is at Hanson Place, Sewali is at
Pacific Street, and I am at First Place. But the meetings are nowhere.
They have not been resumed since we bade you "Good-bye." From
the amount and merit of your writing in our periodicals, you will
not, if 'out of sight, be out of mind." I read your letters in the
Methodist with pleasure and profit, and wonder at your ability to keep
yourself, amid your professional duties, so well posted in relation to
matcers that I should deem it difficult to reach.

In the summer of 1868, having nearly completed his prep-
arations for removal of both family and school to Frankfort,
Dr. Hurst in company with Dr. Abel Stevens took a trip to
Heligoland for needed recuperation. From this place he
writes Mrs. Hurst July 29 :

I suppose you will be off for Frankfort on Thursday (to-morrow
evening). Well, I hope and believe you will have a very good time,
and that nothing will happen to you. I think we shall leave here next
Monday, as we shall have by that time had all the advantages of bath-

170 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

ing and the fresh air. The Dr. is a splendid man, and is in every way
companionable and delightful. We sleep half of the time. We take
breakfast and then a nap. Then we sail over to the adjoining island
(about a mile off), where we bathe. The surf is splendid. Then we
sail back and take a good nap. Dinner comes at 3 p. m. and then we
lounge about, read a little, and sleep until 7 p. m. I think we sleep
about 10 hours in the day.

I am glad to know that the packing is getting on so splendidly ; I
shall have no care whatever. I shall write you next at Frankfort,
though I shall not know any other address except Martin Mission
Institute. If there is no need of my going to Frankfort to get the
things delivered, perhaps we shall stay a few days in the Harz.

XXXII

At Frankfort-on-the-Main

The school reopened about October 1, 1868, in rented rooms
in Frankfort-on-the-Main under its new name of the Martin
Mission Institute. To Dr. Nast on September 25 he wrote of
their temporary quarters :

The house in which we live stands in the rear and, though small,
it is large enough and very neat in appearance. The Frankforters
have a saw, "When you have built your house, first send your enemy
to occupy it; then your friend; and then go yourself!" We have
acted on this principle, for the new Institute is hardly far enough
advanced to occupy yourself. So we have had to rent humble quarters
elsewhere for the students, for a few months, and no doubt they w.'ll
be just as comfortable, though in smaller rooms, as if they were
already in the Institute proper.

Dr. Hurst, in the Missionary Advocate for February, 1873,
says :

In the year 1866 John T. Martin, Esq., of Brooklyn, determined
to direct his centennial benefaction to the reestablishment of the
Institute, and for that purpose gave $25,000, with the provision that
the new school should commence without anv debt. Frankfort is

Martin Mission Institute 171

the very center of German Methodism, and just then was passing
from its traditional status as a free city, a member of the old
Hanseatic League, into Prussian hands, this being one of the pen-
alties resulting from the victory of Prussia over Austria at Sadowa.
Frankfort had sympathized with Austria, and she was immediately
absorbed. Property was cheap, many of the old families hastening
off to find homes farther south. A beautiful site was found on what
was called the Roederberg, an elevated suburb at the eastern end
of the city, overlooking the Main, the historic and lovely valley,
the Bavarian Mountains, and the Taunus Range, while the entire
city of Frankfort lay below. The property was cheap and most de-
sirable ; yet it would not have been known that it was for sale but
for an old gardener, who saw the committee on the street, asked
them what they were after, and then why they did not buy that
place, meaning the spot where he was standing and which he had
cultivated for fifty years. It was bought.

The corner stone was laid March 15, 1868, and the institu-
tion was formally opened on January 17, 1869, when the Rev.
E. Riemenschneider (father of the doctor) preached from
Psa. 137. 5. The Rev. L. Nippert, the new Director, gave an
historical account of the school. Addresses were made by
Revs. C. H. Doering, G. F. Kettell, H. Nuelsen, Consul-
General Murphy, G. P. Davies (of the English Congrega-
tional Church), Dr. Hurst, and others.

Rev. H. A. Buttz, his classmate, pastor at Morristown,
writes on September 23, 1868:

Drew Seminary has opened very favorably. We have about fifty
students, some of them very superior young men. I am engaged
there part of three days each week, which, in connection with my
home work, keeps me very busy. I cannot, of course, be worked
any harder than you are, with your literary and professorial duties.

William F. Warren, his predecessor at Bremen, sends him
on October 17 this greeting:

Many hearty congratulations on your transit to the new Institute.
I have thought of you and of your enjoyment of the new unfold-
ment of your institution hundreds of times. Believe me, when I

172 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

say that I have been with you in spirit much, sharing your toils,
discouragements, and triumphs. God bless the Martin Mission
Institute !

Abel Stevens thus appreciates his contributions to the press :

November 21.
Your letters [in the Methodist] are read with eagerness by us
all— no other paper in New York is kept so an fait in German affairs,
literary and ecclesiastic.

In writing to her sister Airs. Hurst says of the toast to
which Dr. Hurst responded at the Thanksgiving dinner for
Americans in Frankfort :

Mr. Hurst was cheered very much. Mrs. Abraham Lincoln had
a headache and could not come, but "Tad" was there. He was very
pleasant.

Mrs. Lincoln and Airs. Anson Burlingame with other
distinguished Americans temporarily in Frankfort gave fre-
quent evidence of friendly feeling and social recognition to
Dr. Hurst and his family. Dr. Hurst continued his teaching
in Frankfort until the spring of 187 1, though Airs. Hurst
taught his classes in English for several weeks while he was
on his trip to the Holy Land. He thus rounded out his full
five years in a work that has ever since been a blessing to the
Methodists of Germany and Switzerland. The Rev, G.
Hausser. who was a close observer of his developing career in
its relation to the young Germans who came under his training,
says :

From the very first he made a favorable impression on me, not
only as a scholar, but especially as a Christian. His great aim in
life seemed to be to acquire knowledge and to educate the young
men intrusted to his care. Some of the most efficient and influential
workers in our German Conference were his pupils. He used his
talents and the knowledge he had acquired wholly in the service of
his Master and for the benefit of his scholars.

At Frankfort-on-the-Main 173

He was a true friend ; for even after he had become Chancellor
and Bishop he did not forget his old friends, and at our last Con-
ference in Rochester I found him to be the same modest, sincere,
affectionate friend and brother he had been thirty years before.

Bishop Simpson writing to the Christian Advocate in July,
1870, says of the Institute:

It is ably managed by Rev. Dr. Hurst, who labors assiduously
for the education of the young men.

In June, 1869, the darling daughter Clara, who had brought
so much peace and joy to the home in Elizabeth, passed from
their loving embrace. This shadow with its enswathement of
light demands a special place in the story of the home now
first broken, and, with the account of his journeys and trans-
lations of important treatises from the German during the first
three years of his teaching in Europe, will be treated in
specific form separate from the general narrative.

In addition to his other labors, Dr. Hurst for the most of
the period of his residence in Frankfort preached on the first
and third Sundays of each month at the American service in
the chapel at No. 1 Grosser Hirschgraben, near the house
where Goethe was born ; and during the Franco-Prussian War
he quartered German soldiers for a time at his house, while
often the evening employment of his family was making lint
for the wounded and he himself visited the great military
hospital and ministered Christian consolation to the sick and
dying.

174 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

XXXIII

Trips in Europe and the East. — Escape from a Bomb in Rome

Of his Easter vacation (1867), spent with Mrs. Hurst on a
visit to the Paris Exposition, and other cities, brief mention
has already been made. His trip to Zurich in June of the
same year to attend Conference included a half day at Hanover
with walk to Herrenhausen and return; a few hours at
Gottingen, where a woman sold him some fruit and nuts and
wrapped them in leaves of a Latin life of Saint Jerome: a
night and a half day at Hesse-Cassel, taking in its world of art
treasures; a half day at Wilhelmshohe, with its palace and
grottoes and chapel ; two nights and a day in Marburg, giving
him a view of the castle with its Knights' Hall, of Saint Eliza-
beth's Church, and of the University; a day and night in
Frankfort, where Gutenberg's statue and the houses where
Goethe and Rothschild were born were his chief attractions ;
a half day at Heidelberg, taking a run through the market and
a peep at his old quarters of ten years previous ; a few hours
at Karlsruhe; two nights and a Sunday at Baden-Baden, at-
tending Roman Catholic services in Cathedral and the Greek
service, and getting an abhorrent view of the gambling there
prevalent even on the Sabbath ; four hours in Freiburg with
walk to the Schlossberg; and two nights and a day and a half
at Basel, including a visit to the haunts of Erasmus, a call
upon Professor Riggenbach. a little while at the museum, and
attendance at a lecture by Hagenbach on Zwingli.

Upon adjournment of Conference he hurries away from
Zurich, and before he reaches home again he has added to his
trophies of travel Bad Pfaffers, a night at Ragatz, on through
Chur, to Thusis by stage and the Via Mala of Splugen Pass ;
over Schyn Pass along the Albula, through Alvaschein, to
Tiefenkastel ; thence by carriage to Miihlen, where he stayed

BISHOP HURST WITH GENERAL CLINTON B. FISK. 1870.

On Foot in Switzerland 175

a night; a walk through Julier Pass to Silvaplana, to the
Baths of Saint Moritz, and to Samaden in the lovely En-
gadine valley, where he spent a Sunday ; up the Piz Languard,
through Pontresina, and taking in the Morteratsch Glacier and
Waterfall ; by carriage to Bernina House and then on foot to
Bernina Hospice at the top of Bernina Pass, where he stayed
all night, having walked twenty-two miles that day, passing
Palii Glacier to Poschiavo, Preso, and Tirano, one night ; on
foot through Boladore to Bormio, twenty-eight miles (night) ;
over the Bormio, dining at Santa Maria ; and down to Trafoi ;
a walk to Sponding, through Schlanders, and to Meran by
omnibus; a walk to Botzen and ride back to Meran, where a
Sunday was passed, his entry being: "Mr. Wortman and my-
self had a prayer meeting with reading of the Bible. God
blessed us much ;" a walk to Staben and to Unser Frau ; across
the Hoch Joch to Vent (night) ; walk of ten hours to Um-
hausen (night) ; to Roppen, ride to Landeck, stopping at Ried
(night); to Finstermunz Pass; ride to Innsbruck (a Sun-
day) ; by cars to Jenbach ; on foot to Lake Achen and Scholas-
tica; by stage to Baths of Kreuth and village of same name
(night) ; walk to Holzkirchen by Tegern Lake, and then to
Munich, three days ; thence to Augsburg, Nuremberg, and
Bremen by rail.1

Another trip along the Neckar in April, 1868, gives him
one of his favorite runs to Heilbronn, thence up the river to
Tubingen, where for two days he revels in such sights as the
house and tomb of the poet Uhland, the antiquarian bookstores,
the prison, the castles, the great parish church, with the tombs
of the dukes of Wiirttemberg. the University, and an interview
with Professor Wildermuth and his wife, Mrs. Ortillie Wilder-
muth, the writer.

1 For a fascinating account of this excursion see his Life and Literature in the Father -
and, pp. 309, ff.

176 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

On his trip to Heligoland and the Harz Mountains in June
following he wrote to Dr. Nast from Frankfort-on-the-Main,
September 25 :

Immediately after Conference I went with Dr. Stevens to Heligo-
land, and had a pleasant week there ; afterward, I went to Harz ;
these little excursions helped me up again, for I was almost down.
In fact, I had long been working too hard, but did not or would not
know it.

In the summer of 1869, after dear Clara's death, he took a
trip to the north. He writes to his son. John, from Copen-
hagen, August 1 :

Yesterday a. m. at 8 o'clock we got here, and the custom house
officers looked all through our baggage. There was one bundle they
seemed to be suspicious of, and so I unrolled it very slowly for them.
What do you think it was ? Why, nothing but two or three poor
little sandwiches that I had fixed at Lubeck. How the man laughed,
and he was a little provoked to boot.

And again on steamboat Dagmar August 20 :

I have a room with another man, or I should say three, for I have
had a new chum every landing place we have made. My present
roommate is a Russian officer, who used my toothbrush as if it had
been his own. I did not know it until I heard one Englishman say
a Russian had used his, and when I came down to my room I found
mine had been used too.

Of this trip Airs. Hurst writes a letter to her sister, Mrs.
Snow, September 1 5 :

Johnnie and I made the welcome wreath and put it over his pic-
ture with "Willkommen" written under it. Mr. Hurst came home
ten days ago when everything was in readiness and we were so glad
to see him. He was absent nearly six weeks. He saw thoroughly
Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Russia, and Poland. There will be an
account of each country in his letters to the Methodist, one from
Copenhagen, Stockholm, Christiania, Saint Petersburg, Moscow, and
Warsaw.

Germany, Austria, Belgium 177

An Easter excursion in April, 1870, from Frankfort to the
Taunus Mountains regales the tired teacher with a sight of
Soden-Hochst, a large laboratory, from Konigstein Hill ; the
castle ; a walk to Falkenstein ; the ascent of Alt Konig ; all
night at the top of Feldberg, and descent the next day "on a
brisk trot," with bath in the brooks, "one piece of Colgate's
soap for us all," and walk to Homburg.

In May we find him in company of General Clinton B. Fisk,
of whom he writes to Mrs. Hurst from Munich, May 7 :

The General is one of the most delightful men I ever traveled
with, well informed, agreeable, not self-willed, religious, and has
all the qualities of a Christian gentleman.

And again from Vienna, May 1 1 :

The General is perfectly prodigal of money, and will let me buy
nothing, pictures or anything else. I attempted at first several times
to pay for several little things myself, but he would not allow
it, and I saw he would become offended if I did. He will have
everything in the best style.

On this journey he visited Nuremberg, Munich, Salzburg,
Vienna, Linz, Pardubitz, Koniggratz, Sadowa, Prague, and
Berlin.

On July 4 with Airs. Hurst and little John he left Frankfort
for a two-months' tour through Holland and Belgium and a
sojourn of several weeks by the seashore at Heyst, Belgium.
This included a stop in Diisseldorf and at Utrecht, where they
had an interview and took supper with Dr. and Mrs. Van
Oosterzee. While he was at Heyst he says :

Some men were knitting nets. I helped them, aided by early ex-
perience. Threaded a seine knitting needle. This pleased them.

The most extensive of these journeys was the one he took
to Egypt and the Holy Land in 1871. He says :

178 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

On February 1 I started from Frankfort for a tour in the East.
Had taken great pains with my money belt, having given a special
older for it. But it grew so uncomfortable that I took it off before
reaching the second station. At Munich met Mrs. Lincoln. She
asked me to help her, which I did. her baggage being checked to
Innsbruck and she wishing to go to Verona. Bade Mrs. Lincoln
"Bon Voyage" on her Italian tour and then started on my way to
Trieste.

He visited at Cairo the citadel, tombs of the Caliphs, Island

of Roda. the Nilometer and the English burial ground ; then

to the Pyramids, Gizeh, and the palace of Ibrahim Pasha. On

February 18 he is at the tombs of Ben Hassan and spends a

night at Minieh with its sugar mills; on the 19th at Assiut,

where he met Dr. Hogg, the successful Scotch missionary

to the Copts. On the 23d we see him at Karnak and Luxor;

and the 28th at Philae. On March 6 he visits the governor

of Minieh and returns to Cairo, and on the 7th the Gizeh

Gardens. The 9th he visits Miss Whately's school, and on

the 10th starts for Suez and Ismailia; and on the nth goes

from Port Said by steamer to Jaffa, where he lands the 12th

and visits house of Simon the tanner and, being Sunday,

attends service at American consulate. On the 13th he goes

to Jerusalem. He makes an excursion to Hebron where, he

says, "I was seized by the throat because I was simply going

up the outer stairway of the inclosure of Abraham's cave of

Machpelah, and I was ordered off at every door of the harem

when I had paid five francs to see it." He made a side trip

also to Jericho, the Jordan, and the Dead Sea of five days,

and left Jerusalem on March 24.

At Shiloh went off the road, neither dragoman nor muleteer knew
the way ; got a man from the field. Murray's warning might have
deterred me, but fortunately had not read it. Met a shepherd boy
with his reed pipe and looked at it; David's, perhaps, just like it.

On March 25 and 26 at Nablus, Sychar, Jacob's well,

ix Palestine 179

Mount Gerizim, and Joseph's tomb. He saw the Samaritan
copy of the Pentateuch in the sanctuary. Visited the high
priest Amon — who gave him his autograph in Samaritan and
Arabic. Passed Sebustieh (Sebaste), a ruin; Dothan and
Jenin (night). On to Jezreel; past Xain, Shunem, Endor, to
Nazareth (night) ; Tiberias (night) ; around Sea of Galilee,
sleeping in a rush tent with fleas at Mellahah ; to Banias ; and
Kefr Hawer. On April 1 he writes to Mrs. Hurst from Kefr
Hawer :

On this journey I have been in considerable danger at times, but
a show of fearlessness, and the appearance of having weapons
belted around me, have brought me out all right. Esau, my drago-
man, picked up a huge knife on the way, which he has on him. Then
he got a big-headed club, which he swings now and then in great
heroism. By my taking my lorgnette out of the case and unscrew-
ing it fully, and belting it on, it looks very much, when partially
concealed, like a double-barreled pistol. This inspires no little fear,
as soon as seen, and that is all I want. Then my lunch knife, which
I have at hand, does its part of keeping up appearances. My drago-
man was to furnish me with eating and do the cooking. But what
cooking ! He gives me the towel that I have used and used again
till it ought to be washed, for my tablecloth. He ties up some of my
food in his dirty handkerchief, gives me fish in my rice, which he
stirs with so many different dirty sticks that it has acquired a black
look ; my soup has no definite taste ; he seems to be shedding his
black hair all the time, from the quantity I find in everything. He
picks and cooks the chickens himself, and how black ! The cheese
I peel fresh every time I use it. I beg for eggs and oranges, and
get them. The tea I make myself, and the coffee I intrust to him.
But I am so hungry I take anything, and am thankful ! I have not
seen him use a knife or fork in cooking yet — all by fingers ! Neither
have I seen him wash his hands but once since we left, and that was
to-day. I begged him last night to jump in the headwaters of the
Jordan with me ; but no, it was bad for his eyes, and so he held my
clothes. He gets mad sometimes and then beats his head. But he
is getting sobered now, declares he is a Protestant, and is going to
pray the Lord all the time that I may be President of the United
States. I notice he turns his back toward me when he cooks. I sleep
in about as good a room as can be found. But they are mud huts,

i8o John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

filth of all kinds in abundance around the doorway, and inside stenches

indescribable ! Fleas and will not even let me get to sleep

before they begin. In one place, Banias, the Csesarea Philippi of
Scripture, Esau took me to such a filthy place to spend my night,
and dream of you and the children, that my instinct of self-preserva-
tion rebelled, and I put off for the governor of the place. I dragged
him with me and made him translate, though I am now picking up
enough Arabic to tell what people are generally talking about. (Just
here I must tell you that a tribe of little children are crowding around
me and running their dirty fingers under my nose, and begging for
backsheesh.)

I am no longer on the housetop, but down in the yard, near Esau,
who is promising an early dinner. There are 3 horses, 3 cows, dogs,
goats, saddles, babies, men, women, a flock of sheep, and Esau at his
stove, all before me, and much else that I can't stop to enumerate. I
simply asked the governor, who was holding audience, for the use of
the government room for the night. Esau was so dumfounded by
such impudence toward a high functionary that he refused at first
to translate. But he had to come to it. At first a refusal — then con-
sent— then coffee — then cigarette — then invitation to dinner — then
cigarette and coffee — all this followed. Even Esau was invited to
dinner after. The dinner was splendid — clean, savory, and unique.
There was a whole young goat in the middle, with even its head on,
from which each pulled as he wished — no forks — no knives — but
wooden spoons, which were little used. The thin bread lay at our
feet. I was the only one who occupied a seat (a low stool), the rest
sitting on the floor. After this the sheik gave me a letter to the sheik
of this place, for comfortable reception and hospitality, but the sheik
is from home and my luck is poor.

Damascus, April 2.

Here I am, you see. To-day I could not endure staying in such
a hole, and rode through the desert, with glorious old Mount Hermon
in view. I stopped my horse and made a big snowball for my dry
lips, and wrote your initials — baby, John, Carl, and you in the snow,
and trotted on. How glad I am to get here ! I met at the very
first at the hotel some delightful people (English), who were fellow
passengers up the Nile. They think I have done grandly — came
through in one day less than Cook's party and saw more too. One
gentleman in it envied my success — and it has been a great success.
My horse gave out, and I rode one of the mules into Damascus.

After three days in Damascus he goes on to Beirut. Of his

A Bomb in Rome 181

visit to Bishop Kingsley's grave, in a letter to Mrs. Hurst
written on steamer Juno, off the Island of Patmos, April 15,
he says :

I received your letter after my visit to Bishop Kingsley's grave
and could not well have planted the seeds anyhow, for all around
his grave people walk, and the grave itself is covered with brick
masonry on which it is supposed there will be placed a slab if the
remains are not sent to America. A Methodist preacher from the
West (Dr. Fairall), the American consul, and one American, Mr.
Hallock, and I visited the grave together, and I was charmed with
its delightful situation. The lovely Lebanon Mountains look right
down upon it. The graveyard belongs to the German Protestants,
is in a retired but well-chosen place, and well cared for. You look
out from it upon the bright blue Mediterranean. I hope his remains
will stay just where they are. I plucked many flowers from about
his grave, to press.

He landed at Cyprus, at Rhodes, and Smyrna, and pro-
ceeded to Constantinople, and thence homeward by Athens and
Rome. A stop at Rome included a Sunday in early May when
he attended in the evening a preaching and communion service
conducted by the British Wesleyans in a large hall of an old
palace. The pastor, Rev. Mr. Sciarelli, had been a soldier in
Garibaldi's army. Just before the benediction was to be pro-
nounced there was a loud, irregular hissing noise in the left-
hand corner of the front entrance to the hall. The Bishop
says:

I was sitting on the front seat just before the altar, and in turning
around to look at the place whence this alarming noise emanated
I saw a large oval-shaped vessel bounding up and down, caused by
the partial but successful igniting of the fuse. So violent was the
concussion that the gaslights were immediately extinguished, and we
were left in total darkness. The people were wild with excitement.
They sprang for their lives over one another, and over the seats —
all hastening toward the doors. There seemed to be no ventilation,
and the fumes of the gas, mingled with the odor of gunpowder, made
the atmosphere intolerable. I saw that my best chance for escape
was in sitting still until the doors and windows were opened and

182 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

the people went outside. This was a dangerous position, for I was
nearly overcome by the wretched gases, and barely had strength
enough to get near the fresh air. Lights were brought in; the pastor
found me, and told me he would give me an attendant to my hotel,
which he did, saying at the same time that there was danger of
assassination, as the bomb indicated a plan to destroy the congrega-
tion. The bomb did not explode, the fuse failing to do its work.

The next day I called on our American painter, poet, and sculptor,
T. Buchanan Read, and as I was still nervous it was but natural
that I should describe the scene of the previous evening. He seemed
to take full memoranda of the information, and as nearly as I can
remember expressed a desire to make use of it.

I heard nothing more about the scene for several weeks, when I
met in Frankfort a person who had just left Rome. He told me
the attempt to destroy the congregation had been discussed by the
Parliament; that the bomb had been examined and found to contain
all manner of destructive objects, such as pieces of iron, glass, and
what not; that a discussion had taken place, and that the result
was the passage of the now historic act — the opening of all Italy
to perfect freedom of worship for all confessions.

Clara's Sickxess and Death 183

XXXIV
The Father Bereft

The Discipline of Sorrow

He who had been the messenger of comfort to hundreds in
their hours of bereavement himself with his devoted wife
passed into the clouds of affliction. Only a few weeks after
their settlement in the new home in Frankfort little Clara
suffered an attack of typhoid fever, from the first effects of
which she partially recovered, but then gradually failed and
after eight months of lingering sickness on June 20, 1869, she
slept sweetly in Jesus. Writing in his own notebook a few
weeks later he says :

A great blow has come upon me. My dear daughter Clara has
been borne from me by angel hands — herself an angel. God help me
to preach and work aright, that I may meet her in heaven. I fully
expect she will welcome me home at last. Heavenly recognition
has been to me ever before a belief — now it is beyond that, a
knowledge.

The story of that household in its united ministrations
to the little sufferer, prolonged with its anxieties and vigils
through the late autumn into and through the winter, with the
alternations of fear and hope, far into the early spring, and
the gradual predominance of the doubt and dread as the year
grew green and bright with April showers and the flowers of
May, cannot be told. On May 17 he made this record :

Second consultation of physicians held on Clara ; they pronounce
that there is very little hope for her life. But she and her mamma
believe that she will be spared — which God grant, but to his name's
glory and honor.

Her condition was such in the middle of June as to warrant

184 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

hope that she would survive perhaps for many weeks, and Dr.
Hurst, bearing a heavy heart, set out for Berlin to attend the
annual session of the Conference. On Friday, June 18, Mrs.
Hurst writes him :

My own precious Husband: Darling Clara is sleeping a little.
She is gradually failing, more rapidly, I fear, than the doctor thinks.
She certainly will be with us but a very short time. She takes very
little notice of things — does not seem to hear; yet, by getting very
near, she will look up. About five o'clock this afternoon she kissed
me and this morning early asked, "Where is papa?" That is the
most rational sentence she has said to-day. She takes short naps
and then lies looking at something very quietly, sometimes grasps
after something in the air.

Amelia will stay with me to-night and every night until you come.
O, my precious husband, how it pains me to write this to you. I
had hoped her life would be spared, but God orders otherwise, and
now I find I have not that strength of mind to bear the stroke
as I thought I would have. I am praying constantly for resignation.
I can hardly wait for you to come. I feel like telegraphing, but fear
I may be in too much haste ; for I wish you to have a little rest after
such a long journey. I cannot bear to leave her a moment, even
when she is sleeping. She lies on our bed and I sit on the bed
by her side. I think she knows I am there, although she has not
said "Mamma" to-day. This morning about 10 o'clock she recognized
some roses that Mrs. Petri brought her.

To the above Mrs. Hurst's own hand added the sad partic-
ulars of the last days:

June 23. — The above was written last Friday, but, as Clara grew
worse, I was obliged to telegraph to her papa, who was in Berlin
attending Conference. Late Friday evening she kissed me four
times and patted me with her little slender hand, which was becoming
stiff, upon my cheek, as much as to say, "Mamma, don't grieve for
me." Saturday morning at 3 o'clock she kissed me again and at
6 o'clock. This was the last, I think, that she had conscious moments
during Saturday. Dr. Andrea came in Saturday evening, she looked
at him and her eyes followed him around, and he said he was sure
that she was conscious and that she knew him. Her eyes were con-
stantly directed to the door as if she were expecting every moment
to see her papa.

Buried amid Flowers 185

Mrs. Murphy, wife of the consul-general, and a kind neighbor,
Mrs. Petri, sat up with her Saturday night. Her papa arrived at
gyi Sunday morning and she died about five minutes before 10 o'clock.
He was with her a half an hour, but we doubt whether she was
sensible of it.

The funeral was held on June 23, and the burial was made
in the Friedhof of Frankfort, amid a great profusion of
flowers brought both to the house and to the cemetery by-
Clara's schoolmates. Mr. John P. Jackson in the Evening
Post, New York, of July 21, says:

This thought of being buried among flowers is a very pleasant
one, even to matured persons, and we were not surprised on learning
that the little one had become enchanted with it. She had thus
obtained an almost poetic idea of death. A few months previously
her mind had been busily engaged in planning excursions and picnics
with her schoolmates to the beautiful summer-clad woods, but toward
the end she forgot these, and began to talk, young as she was, about
death, and to say how she would like to be buried. She had already
seen a German burial. It had been the wish of her parents, in
case of death, that her body should be taken back to America ; but
the little one, who knew of some persons being thus removed, had
said that she would not like to cross the rough sea again, but,
imbued with the beautiful idea of being buried amid flowers, asked
that she might be left in Germany, and requested that her head
might be surrounded by a beautiful wreath, with beautiful rosebuds
in her hair, a flower-cross upon her breast; the coffin was to be
filled up with flowers, and some real ones were to be planted on her
grave. The idea of such a flowery resting place appeared to take
away all fear of death.

The mother heart grieved deeply and long over the departure
of their only daughter, and the father heart strove manfully
and successfully to bring both to her and to himself the sol-
aces of the Christian faith. During his trip made in August
to the Scandinavian peninsula and Russia he poured out his
heart in strong and yearning messages of comfort to his wife :

186 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

LlLLEHAMMER, NORWAY, August 9.

How much I thought of dear angel Clara yesterday, Sunday ! She
seems a little guardian spirit to me, and sometimes we can almost talk
together. What a joy, with all our grief, that she has no grief, no
tears, nothing but joy! and is waiting for us, whom she loved so
dearly !

Stockholm, August 14.

My dear Kate: I am afraid you are grieving too much for our
dear angel Clara. I have seen so much wickedness since I have been
gone that I have a peaceful satisfaction in knowing that our sweet
angel is an angel and can never sin, and never know a pain. Now,
have we not a great comfort? And why should you wish to have
Clara by our side when she would not, if she had her choice, not-
withstanding all her almost idolatry of us, leave her Saviour's side
for ten thousand worlds? Let us love our sweet Clara's precious
memory, and cherish her sweet, pure spirit, so as to imitate it, and
love the Saviour more for her sake; for she loved him. Let us be
happy in spite of all our sorrow, and remember that to mourn an
erring child living is ten thousand times worse than a blest, immortal
one. Do not, for the sake of dear John and Carl, who are left us,
mourn longer over Clara's loss. We know her future, but we don't
know John's or Carl's. Therefore spend the time in praying for and
instructing them in the right way, instead of weeping selfishly over
our angel spirit. If she knew that we ever shed a tear over her,
what would her language be? — "Don't, dear papa and mamma, cry
for me ! You don't know how happy I am here, and what nice
things the Saviour tells me and gives me all the time. Try and
bear my absence just as you ought, and then come up here where
I am!"

In a letter to her own sympathizing father and mother Airs.

Hurst partly discloses the deeps through which each sought to

aid the other :

August 6. — Mr. Hurst bears it better than I do, but sometimes
he feels like giving up entirely. She became such a pet of his through
her sickness. . . . Nothing but time can soften this grief.

Again he writes to Mrs. Hurst :

Ox Steamer Dagmar, August 20.
I know you still grieve for our precious angel Clara. I feel that
heaven is doubly attractive to us. and that we should rather rejoice

Christian Consolation 187

to know that no power can take her from her high estate, and that
our meeting her again, if we are faithful to Christ, is certain, when
that would not have been the case if we had gone and left her to
fight life's battle alone. I have seen so many tombs of children, and
of princes, since I left home, that I feel that our lot has been the
lot of parents ever since the world began ; only we have the hope
that multitudes of parents have not — of knowing that our dear one
is with her Saviour.

Saint Petersburg, x\ugust 23.
No grave was so touching as that of a little daughter of the
present Emperor Alexander II, who was but six months younger
than our angel in heaven. How her image stands before me ! I gaze
on little girls in the streets until I lose sight of them, and think of
Clara, and that she is happy. Let us not weep, hard as it is to desist.
She is above all suffering. Dr. Stevens's letter comes right home to
me more than any we have received. He says our dear Clara hovers
over us, and is a ministering spirit. It seems to me sometimes that
I can almost hear our sweet Clara talking to me as she used to do.
When we come to die we shall not have to be anxious about her
future; it will sweeten our own death to know that we shall soon
be with her.

1 88 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

XXXV
The Translator

The German Exegete. — The Swiss Historian. — The Dutch Defender

Parallel with and helpful to his work as teacher during his
two years in Bremen and his first year in Frankfort was the
congenial yet often difficult task of translating three important
works from the German into English. These were the Com-
mentary of Lange on the Epistle to the Romans, Hagenbach's
History of the Christian Church in the Eighteenth and Nine-
teenth Centuries, and Van Oosterzee's Apologetical Lectures
on John's Gospel.

While still pastor at Staten Island he had agreed with Dr.
Philip Schaff, the editor in chief of the translation of Lange's
Commentary, to translate the Epistle to the Romans and to
furnish the homiletical notes to be drawn from various sources.
Soon after making this arrangement in the spring of 1866 he
jotted down a comparative forecast for this new undertaking :

From April 1 to August 1 I must translate 200 pages of Lange.
There are 17 weeks and 85 working days. This would be 2V2 pages
for every working day. May God help me to complete my task !

More than three years later he added to the above :

This enterprise was not finished until 1869. So much for plans.

He wrote at intervals, using the latest available editions of
Lange's work and sending installments from time to time as
they accumulated to the hand of the learned and able general
editor. Dr. Schaff wrote him frequently on points where
consultation became necessary and desirable. On November
20, 1867, he says:

Philip Schaff 189

I do not wonder that you call it the hardest work of your life.
I find it very difficult myself to translate Lange. But I am sure
we shall never regret the labor spent upon it. It will be a standard
Commentary for a long time.

And again on September 12, 1868:

If I get through Romans and John (which has been thrown upon
me by the sudden death of my friend Dr. Yeomans — a severe shock
to me !) safe and sound, it will be almost a miracle. If I had nothing
else to do, I might manage Lange, but I have to labor besides for
the support of a large family. The printer is now working on the
first chapter of Romans and complains dreadfully of the copy. But
I cannot help it. It is a terrible job all around, which requires special
grace to carry through.

On October 26 he says :

Your translation improves greatly as it goes on. You evidently
have grown into the work. I find now little to correct, but much
to add to Lange and occasionally by the way of dissent. If we
carry the volume through as commenced, I think we will give to the
public a Commentary full of valuable matter and not easily to be
superseded. You may go on with your additions to the Homiletical
Department, which I think are very valuable. Cull the richest fruits
from the English and American fields of labor and make it exhaustive.

Dr. Hurst, with a sigh of relief that can almost be heard
from the written lines, reaches the end of this work on Satur-
day, February 13, 1869:

At 12 minutes before 12 m. this day, I finished the last word
of Lange's Commentary (Romans), on which I had been engaged
just three years.

It came from Scribners' press late in 1869. From Dr.
Schaff came in 1870 these words of comment and commen-
dation :

The Commentary has been well received by the press except the
Methodist Quarterly Review. You were no doubt as much surprised
as I at the fierce attack of Dr. Whedon, which is as unfair as it is

190 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

unkind. I am sure my dear friend Dr. McClintock was grieved at
it. I attended his funeral yesterday at Saint Paul's Church and was
moved to tears. He was a loyal and true Methodist, and yet in hearty
.sympathy with all other hranches and interests of Christ's kingdom.
That is the style of man I admire and love. I deeply mourn over
his departure, but God's holy will be done.

Romans is doing well, though none of the Epistles sell so ex-
tensively as the Gospels. Dr. Whedon's criticism may have interfered
with its sale in the Methodist Church, but I trust not permanently.
All the other reviewers spoke in high praise about it as being upon
the whole the most valuable Commentary on Romans in existence.
If you are anxious for more work, I am quite willing to let you
take some Old Testament book not yet disposed of, which are I and
2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, and six of the Minor Prophets.
None of these have appeared yet in German.

His translation of Hagenbach's extensive and popular
Church History dates for its inception as far back as January
1, 1864, when he consented to undertake it in joint labor with
Dr. Bernard H. Nadal, then preaching in Philadelphia. Sub-
sequently, after going to Europe and in view of Dr. Xadal's
inability to fulfill his purpose of so large devotion of time
to literary labor while engrossed in the cares of a large church.
Dr. Hurst by a mutually satisfactory arrangement assumed
the completion of the work. Dr. Nadal's portion of the work
appears in Chapters I to VII inclusive, IX and a part of X in
the first volume, and parts of XVI and XVII of the second.
This long labor was finished in June, 1868, and the two
octavo volumes appeared in 1869.

For several items of progress in this work his Journal can
be consulted for 1864, January 1, 4, 9, 31 and February 20,
the last-named entry announcing his discontinuance of the
translating, because the Clarks of Edinburgh were printing
another translation made by W. L. Gage and J. H. W. Stuck-
enberg under the title of German Rationalism. After his
removal to Bremen he resumed the work of translation in
harmony with the wishes of the distinguished author and

Hagenbach and Van Oosterzee 191

professor at Basel and under agreement for its publication
by Charles Scribner. He wrote to Dr. William Nast, May 25,
1868:

I can have Hagenbach ready for the press in two months, if
necessary.

This work of a thousand pages is rounded out by a chapter
from the hand of the translator called "Most Recent History
and Present State of the Church in Europe," giving in the
space of twenty pages a condensed view of the ten preceding
years of European church life.

His translation of the Apologetical Lectures of J. J. Van
Oosterzee on the Gospel of John from the German edition
brought before the English and American public four of the
strong and popular lectures of the scholarly and progressive,
yet evangelical and conservative Professor of Utrecht in his
masterly defense of the fourth gospel, delivered in the Odeon
at Amsterdam in 1866. He completed this work in December,
1868, added some notes of his own, and it was published by
the Clarks of Edinburgh in 1869. He had the pleasure of
acquaintance with Dr. Van Oosterzee, with whom he carried
on for several years an interesting correspondence.

A letter from Mrs. Hurst to her sister, Mrs. Snow, on
November 9, 1869. refers to these three works of the busy
man, her husband:

I suppose you see by the papers that Romans of Lange's Com-
mentary is out, and that Hagenbach's Church History is now being
printed. You have no idea what a relief it is to have three large
books, or the manuscript, out of the house. When I think it over
I don't see how Mr. Hurst ever got through with it, and then
that book, too, on John's Gospel, all crowded into three years. I don't
believe he will ever undertake such an amount of work again.
Romans was so very difficult, and also the homiletical additions
which he made, but the New York papers are giving due credit
and great praise for the scholarly manner in which he carried it

192 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

out. Hagenbach's Church History was stereotyped over here, and
the plates sent to Mr. Scribner.

The History of Rationalism had been his passport into the
world of letters. These three translations brought him into
intimate relations with three leading theological minds of the
Continent in exegesis, in history, and in biblical criticism, and
bound him in the ties of lifelong affection to Dr. Philip Schaff.
This long and wearing grapple with the German language,
especially with the knotty type of Professor Lange's Romans,
gave him a firm hold and an easy conquest in all his later fre-
quent use of the literature of the Fatherland and in his con-
versation, his preaching, and presiding in their own tongue,
among the Germans, who loved him as one of their own.

Death of McClintock and Nadal 193

XXXVI
The Professor

At Drew

On December 13, 1869, John H. Vincent, then Secretary of
the Sunday School Union, wrote Dr. Hurst:

Will you come home at the close of the five years in Germany?
To what will you come — a presidency? a professorship? an editor-
ship? a pastorship? I think we must make you editor of the Quar-
terly Review. But God has led you and he still leads you.

The path which, upon the call of the church, he had entered
when he left the local pastorate to engage in the broader
pastorate of training young ministers in Germany for their
lifework, was a straight one to a similar but higher and longer
service in the Drew Theological Seminary at Madison, New
Jersey. This institution was in its infancy, having first opened
in the fall of 1867. The cultured, eloquent, mighty McClin-
tock, with the help of a few strong associates, had given the
young Seminary a worthy prestige, when on March 4, 1870,
he dropped earth's toil and entered into rest, to be followed
two months later by Professor Bernard H. Nadal. Midway
between McClintock's crowning and his own, on April 2, Dr.
Nadal wrote to Dr. Hurst :

My dear Friend and Brother: Before this letter reaches you,

you will have heard of the death of our dear friend, Dr. McClintock.

Indeed, you must know it while I write. We who are left in the

Faculty of "Drew" are concerned as to who shall be our colleague

in Dr. McClintock's place, not as president, but as professor. I

have proposed you to the other members of the Faculty, and I think

it quite probable they may agree with me; at least as probable as

the contrary. Now, in confidence, how do you feel? What would
14

194 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

you do if the place were offered you? Would you be willing to take
the chair of Practical Theology?

My plan is to have Foster made president. He has more influence
with Mr. Drew than any other man in the church and can secure
farther endowment as no one else could. Perhaps to accomplish
certain ends it might be needful for me to take Foster's chair of
Dogmatics, let him take the Practical, and give you my place (His-
tory). If need were, would that suit you? Of course, these things
pledge nothing.

While pondering the question of duty as to the acceptance
of a chair at Drew if it should be tendered him by the trustees,
he received a message from one who had with keen and
practiced eye taken the measure of his future service, General
Fisk, at Paris, saying :

I cannot think it best for you to go to Drew just yet. You are
No. I at Capua now. Rome will come in time.

His election to the chair of Historical Theology, for which
he had named his friend, Charles W. Bennett, took place
November 15, 1870, at a meeting of the trustees held in Jersey
City, and was accepted six weeks later in a letter to Bishop
Simpson. After finishing his fifth year in the German work
and having made his trip to the Holy Land, he closed his rela-
tions to the school in Frankfort, packed his books and other
earthly goods, and with his wife, his two sons and infant
daughter Helen, crossed the Atlantic, leaving Bremen August
12, arriving in New York the 25th. On September 3 he
preached at the corner stone laying of the new church in
dear Passaic. In the early fall he was settled in his new home
on the beautiful campus at Madison and on opening day spoke
to the assembled friends and patrons of the Seminary. Here
for nine years he directed and stimulated the students of Drew
in their efforts to gain such a view of the development of the
Christian church as should be a perpetual inspiration to patient

Professor at Drew 195

and successful labor and a safeguard from the errors which
here and there have marred its record. His colaborer in the
Faculty, and successor in the Presidency, Dr. Buttz, says :

His work in this important department was marked with great
success. His professorial life was one of joy to him and of profit
to all his students. There are those who will recall him with ten-
derness as their professor and president at Drew, unfolding to them
in vivid language the story of the Christian church and stimulating
them to higher ideals of scholarship and usefulness. They will
acknowledge that the touch of Professor Hurst is still upon them and
that his influence upon them for good is still abiding.

Hundreds of preachers felt his personal touch and cherish
fond memories of his class room and more private talks and
helps. A few expressions will show in some degree the spirit
and method of his teaching and intercourse with his students.
William McKendree Hammack, of the Baltimore Conference,
who was at Drew when Dr. Hurst first came, says :

We found in him a kind and sympathizing friend, ever ready to
listen and offer wise and kind counsel. His pleasant smile, genial
spirit, and kind words have ever been a pleasant memory to me.

Dr. Daniel Halleron, of the Newark Conference, writes :

In May, 1872, I came to Madison for the purpose of entering Drew
Seminary. A perfect and bewildered stranger, I left my wife at the
hotel, where we did not wish to stay long, for financial reasons.
I entered the campus not knowing whom to see. A man with spade
in his hand, cowhide boots, trousers tucked in, an old coat and an
older hat, approached and inquired whom I wanted. I told him
my errand. I suppose I looked out of sorts. He smiled and patiently
listened, then in a singularly sympathetic manner said, "Brother,
don't be disturbed, matters will come out all right." What was my
amazement in a few days to discover that the man was Dr. Hurst.
He was patient, sympathetic, genial, scholarly, but could be as firm
as Gibraltar.

Dr. John A. Gutteridge, of 77, says :

196 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

He was always ready to preach for the smallest congregations.
The Sunday evenings he spent in our little home in Livingston after
he had preached will never be forgotten. I can see him now take
his shoes off on a cold winter's night and put his feet in the
oven on a log of wood we had put there to warm for that purpose.
He was so simple in his ways, so like one of the family, that I
fear we shall never see his like again.

Dr. W. H. Rider, of Southern California Conference, tells
of a walk with him, a habit which marked the beloved Tholuck
in the days at old Halle :

He was to me one of the greatest helpers of my life. One day,
after his lecture to the class in history, he invited me to take a walk
with him. We started toward Morristown. Say what you will about
distances and strides ! We talked about specializing in study. He
said he believed in it and mentioned exegesis as most inviting. In
this connection he said, "I like language and history, but I do not
believe the Lord ever intended that I should study mathematics."

Another similar incident is related by Professor W. W.
Martin, of the New York East Conference :

My custom was to walk around the Triangle, one side of which
was bordered by the Morristown Road. On this evening I was
walking slowly and heard a kind voice say, "Good evening. Brother
Martin !" Turning, I saw Dr. Hurst stepping up by my side. We
walked on together, he going with me around the Triangle. I seemed
to be talking a great deal to him all the way; but the fact was,
for every word I uttered he spoke sentences. He made me companion
with the great thinkers of the past, with the leading spirits of the
German universities. They were made to appear very near to me,
older friends pointing out the deeds of those who had among men,
with fidelity and sacrifice, served our Lord the Christ. I have often
thought how in that walk Bishop Hurst completely blotted out his
own personality that he might surround me with the mighty workers
of the past and present. The memory of the walk lives to-day.

He kept himself in constant touch with current thought
bearing on his special themes, and in place of a regular lecture
he would sometimes spring a pleasant surprise upon his class

His Gentleness and Strength 197

by treating them to a delightful talk on some topic or book or
author. Professor Faulkner, of Drew, speaks in the Methodist
Review for May and June, 1904, of his "interesting lectures
in the old northeast room in Mead Hall and the still more
interesting excursions into the paths of history, biography,
and literature." Dr. John D. Hammond, of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. South, says :

He was one of the most popular and beloved teachers I have ever
known. His gentleness and strength combined not only to win to
him all hearts, but also to give him dominion over all minds.

198 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

XXXVII
The President

At Drew

The election of President Randolph S. Foster to the office of
bishop at the General Conference of 1872 took away from
"Drew" its official head. Six months later, on November 29,
Bishop Foster resigned both his professorship and the presi-
dency. The trustees, already knowing his power as a teacher
and confident also of his administrative ability, on May 14,
1873, elected Dr. Hurst president of the Seminary. The ac-
ceptance of this office added greatly to his labors, for he
retained his professorship and performed the duties belonging
to it to the full, save during the period when imminent financial
peril, threatening the life of the institution, midway in his
administration drove him to frequent and long journeys, and
some one of his colleagues, usually Dr. Kidder, would act as
his substitute.

Differing in temperament and method from the two presi-
dents, the scholarly McClintock and the philosophical Foster,
who had laid strong, broad, and deep foundations in the first
six years of "Drew." he admirably united with his scholarly
labors in this office for seven years the practical sagacity of
the man of affairs coping successfully with each rising emer-
gency ; secured the preservation and perfecting of the harmony
existing between the members of the Faculty; the steady ad-
vancement in the grade of scholarship among the ever-increas-
ing body of students, both for entrance and during the courses ;
an effective junction of the interests of the school with the
mind and heart of the adjacent Conferences of its patronizing

From photograph by Garber.

JOHX FLETCHER HURST,

While President of Drew Theological Seminary.

An Encounter with Bishop Ames

199

territory, intensified and extended to the whole church by his
heroic restoration of the lost endowment; and a constant
pastoral watchfulness over the physical, social, moral, and
spiritual well-being of the young men who came from every
part of the country and from lands beyond the seas. His rep-
resentations of the Seminary before the Annual Conferences
were invariably well received. In 1874 he said to the Newark
Conference :

Brethren, we earnestly ask your prayers. It may seem an easy
task. Not so. I envy you your fields of labor. You are welcome
to our homes at any time. Search out young men. Don't let them
go out until they are fully ready. We want earnest men, converted
men, called men, serious men — men who know what they are pro-
posing.

Supplemental to his public addresses in behalf of the school
he wrote and published a telling circular of sixteen pages en-
titled "Should a College Alumnus attend a Theological Semi-
nary?" In this he gives five reasons why he should, and
answers six fallacious objections. An incident which oc-
curred while he was visiting the Baltimore Conference in 1874
is vividly described by Dr. George V. Leech :

Bishop Ames occupied the chair. As the admission of a young
man, even on trial, was always regarded as a vital matter, all the
information possible was sought. Hence a custom had grown up
of informally calling on the professors or presidents of the institu-
tions in which the candidate had studied, if such were at hand.
Such testimony, when accessible, was not only sought, but was a
very dominant factor in the decision of the case. A young man,
whose name was before the Conference, had been a student at Drew.
Dr. Hurst, who happened to be present, had duly represented him.
Bishop Ames, perhaps unaware of the custom prevailing in this
Conference, and well known as insistent on exact regularity of
procedure, as soon as Dr. Hurst had finished, made some remarks
that seemed to reflect on such outside interference, as out of place
in affairs that belonged to the Conference alone. He had scarcely
finished when the Doctor rose again. I shall never forget his appear-
ance. A man of medium stature, of usually gentle and benevolent

200 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

countenance, his eyelids drooping heavily over eyes that were pale
blue, I anticipated a mild-mannered apology for his action as well
intended, though thus publicly and officially disapproved. I heard
nothing of the kind. He seemed to rise to a higher stature than
before; those languid-looking eyes seemed to have a new and wide-
awake expression. First came a few well-chosen words of explana-
tion of his course, as suggested by others and as justified by the
custom of the Conference as well as by the proprieties of the case;
then those eyelids were lifted, a very fire seemed to blaze, and the
speaker finished by informing the massive and dignified presiding
officer that he understood his rights in such matters and that he
allowed neither bishop nor anyone else to reflect on him for such
action ; he followed duty alone and was content. He then quietly
took his seat. It was the end of the matter. A thrill of admiration
for the mild-mannered man who had thus courageously confronted
a bishop, who was rather feared by many ministers, ran through the
Conference. Bishop Ames, though at times abrupt and combative,
as is well known, looked quietly round as though the incident was
satisfactorily closed, and proceeded to put the vote. The young man.
if memory serves me aright, was unanimously admitted. It was a
very easy matter, for one who did not know the real John F. Hurst,
to misjudge his character for courage. He was utterly unassuming.
His appearance and general manner of address gave no special
indication of either great intellectual power and learning or of unusual
courage. In reality he was the very embodiment of all of these.

On the last day of 1875 he served as one of the bearers at
the funeral of the centenarian preacher, Henry Boehm, at
Woodrow, Staten Island, and in September, 1876, he assisted
at the funeral services of Bishop Janes, to whom he was de-
votedly attached.

His fraternal address, as the representative of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, at the Triennial National Council of the
Congregational Church at Detroit in 1877, was a most happy
combination of good feeling with a scholarly and appreciative
tracing of Congregational antecedents and history, and of
parallels as well as contrasts in the honorable and successful
growth of both Calvinistic and Arminian churches. Beginning
with a blandness that bordered well on pleasantry, it closes

The Preacher's Study 201

with an eloquent appeal of a clarion note for a solid union of
forces for the battle to preserve the Sabbath, to defeat intem-
perance, to resist infidelity, and to check the political aggres-
sion of Roman Catholicism. He preached frequently during
his entire connection with "Drew," visiting the camp meetings
at seashore, in the forest, and in the mountains. Of the
Wyoming, Pennsylvania, camp meeting of 1878 an eyewitness,
Rev. E. W. Caswell, reports :

Bishop Hurst and Bishop McCabe mingled among the multitude.
The face of Bishop Hurst shone with the light of heaven. All
who saw him on that occasion knew that his scholarly mind was
illumined with the love of a great heart.

On December 18, 1878, he delivered a powerful address at
the Educational Convention held in Syracuse. He found time
to write and deliver an address on "Pastoral Habits" before
the Newark District Conference, full of meaty suggestions
and of fundamental principles for sermon-making. Here are
two or three of its gems :

The study should be as undisturbed by an intruder as was Galileo's
tower in the moment of the discovery of a new planet, or the studio
of Michelangelo when at work on his Moses. ... A mechanical
division of the hours, such as we sometimes find in the books on
ministerial study, has about as much common sense in it as a man's
laying down rules for the smiling of a child, the singing of a
bird, the enjoyment of Niagara, or the absorbed looking at the
Sistine Madonna. . . . We must remember that we are creatures of
inspiration as well as habit, and when the fire is on one, or rather,
in him, the timing of himself, the fixing an exact limit to his
work, is like a Wellington ordering a halt in the hot midst of
Waterloo, or Isaac Newton laying aside his calculation of the law
of gravitation because, forsooth, his watch is telling him he is already
four minutes beyond his allotted time.

From the impressions made on those who came near to him
during his career as president of this school of the prophets we
cull a few. Professor Faulkner writes :

202 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

When I came here [Drew] as a student and bashful boy, in 1878,
I was told that I might find him somewhat severe and reserved, but,
on the contrary, the first time I called on him I found him pleasant
and friendly. . . . One time he made a great speech in the chapel
on Ministerial Devotion. He said, "Bury yourselves in your work,
and earthly honors will take care of themselves."

The Rev. X. L. Heroy, of yj"/, says:

Undecided what step next to take after my graduation from col-
lege, I wrote to Dr. Hurst for advice as to taking a course at
Drew, suggesting that I was without means. His prompt reply was,
"Come right on ; the Lord will provide for all whom he calls to
the ministry." I found out subsequently that this was the spirit in
which he invited one and all of the impecunious candidates for the
ministry.

The Rev. E. F. Barlow, of New York Conference, says :

The trait in Bishop Hurst which impressed me most was his
attention to the individual. The few times I met him he gave me his
thought as though I was the only man. So, it seemed to me, he did
with any subject or matter. During the time of its consideration
it absorbed all his thought — his soul.

From Dr. S. O. Royal, of the Cincinnati Conference:

As a young man, already consecrated to the work of the ministry,
but undecided as yet whether I should dare to enter a theological
seminary, to continue there the principle of self-support by which
I had put myself through college, these words were an inspiration
to my faith, and ended my inward debatings. In his first letter to
me he said: "Do not remain away from here in order to teach.
Come right along without any work in view, and trust in the Lord
to open your way. I will see that you get the aid of a loan or
an outright gift of enough to meet your board the first year. But
leave all these things. Provide as well as you can, and leave the
rest for the Lord and vour friends here to manage." In a few weeks
another letter from him announced that the aid suggested above had
been secured, and I decided at once upon the path wmich changed the
direction of my entire life. On another occasion at chapel exercise,
when a peculiar temptation was haunting me, his words drove away
the tempter, the air cleared, and courage came back. It was on this

J. L. Gilder's Description 203

wise. He said: "Some of you are here by the charities of strangers
whose interest is in the cause, and not in you personally. Think none
the less of yourselves on that account. Your Father in heaven has
many children, and different ways of caring for them. Some are
provided with abundant supplies for earning their own support, and
others are for the time assisted by the generosities of those whom
the Lord has made the stewards of his bounty. By whatever means
our bread comes,, it is from him." Such a spirit as those words
manifested exerted an influence for which earthly measurements
are utterly insufficient. Eternity alone can reveal and reward them.

The Rev. J. L. Gilder's description in 1877 is:

To the uninitiated President Hurst, from his very youthful appear-
ance, would be the least likely to be regarded as at the head of the
institution. We opine he is really older than his appearance indi-
cates. He is rather under the medium size, but well proportioned
and compacted. The face is oval, with symmetrical features; the
countenance serene and placid — the very index of culture, piety, and
benevolence. In manner Dr. Hurst is calm and undemonstrative:
in speech, unimpassioned and deliberate, but perspicuous and im-
pressive. He is a good organizer, exhibits executive ability of a
high order, is free from all taint of egotism or dogmatism, and
admirably well supports the dignity of his position.

XXXVIII
A Crisis, A Stand, A Victory

From the opening of the Seminary in November, 1867,
until December, 1875, the salaries of the professors and other
current expenses were quite amply provided for by the annual
payment of $17,500, the interest on Mr. Daniel Drew's per-
sonal bond for $250,000. The purchase of the Gibbons estate,
with its mansion and beautifully wooded ninety acres, the
transformation of the buildings for the new purposes of the
school, the erection of four houses for the homes of the pro-

204 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

fessors, and other improvements of the realty, were the gift
of Mr. Drew, whose cash paid for all these, involving the
outlay of about $250,000. In March, 1876, while the life at
"Drew" was at the flood, the professors working with enthu-
siasm, the classes larger than at any previous time, and the
prospect fair for steady growth in every department, suddenly
Mr. Drew's securities or investments shrank to merely nominal
values. The failure was complete and hopeless. President
Hurst promptly visited the aged capitalist and generous giver.
The pathos of that personal meeting between the strong and
hopeful man and the tremulous, crushed, despairing financier
can be easily imagined.

The result of his report of the situation to the Faculty and
conference with them, and the resolute courage shared with
him by every professor, formed the theme of his talk to the
students one of those dark mornings in chapel. The Rev. W.
H. York, of the Central New York Conference, reports the
president on this occasion :

I have recently had an interview with Mr. Drew. He told me
he could no longer pay the interest on the bonds he had made for
the endowment of Drew Theological Seminary. I looked him straight
in the eye and said, "Mr. Drew, the report of such a failure as
this will go around the world." "I know it, I have thought of it,
but I can't help it." Now, I am glad to say that not one member
of the Faculty is going to leave his post, though not one of us
knows where his salary is coming from.

Early and most helpfully in this campaign for money came
a princely gift from the president of the National Shoe and
Leather Bank of New York, Mr. Andrew V. Stout, who en-
dowed the Chair of Church History with $40,000. The
writer remembers the gleam of joy that overspread the face
of the president as one evening, in the midst of a busy hour of
dictation and taking of notes for correspondence, he paused
to tell some particulars of that banker's heart-cheering act:

Hope, Humor, and Work 205

I had made no direct personal appeal to Brother Stout. He knew
the situation and our need. I was his guest for the night in my
canvass for funds, and knew I was among friends. While we
sat in his home, each quietly reading and resting, he turned toward
me and taking his pencil wrote on the margin of the paper he had
been reading the bare figures with the significant mark before them
— $40,000.

It is doubtful whether the weary president slept as well or
as long as usual that night, but it is absolutely sure that his
rest was sweeter. While in the straits for money the pro-
fessors for a time resorted to the plan of exchanging with
one another their own promissory notes, which with some
collateral security were honored by advances at the local banks.

Another professorship was secured through the agency of
Professor Buttz from the heirs of the Honorable George T.
Cobb, of Morristown, who endowed the Chair of Xew Testa-
ment Exegesis, by the gift of land in New York city on Tenth
Avenue between Xinetv-second and Ninetv-third Streets,
valued at $40,000. This was not immediately productive.
On July 8, 1877. Dr. Hurst made this note on the back of the
stubs of his bank-check book :

My salary due by the Seminary is chiefly paid up for the quarter
ending June I. Professor Buttz has $100 paid on his to that time.
This week I propose to pay one or two hundred around to the pro-
fessors. My salary is the only one warranted by an endowment,
though I have intended to distribute it equally.

At the General Conference of 1876, where he led the delega-
tion from Newark Conference, he let no time or opportunity
pass without making it tell for his cause. To Mrs. Hurst he
sent among many others these messages of hope, of humor,

and of work :

Baltimore. April 30.
Mine is to be the immortality, if any, of making good the money
that Wall Street has swallowed up.

206 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

May 8, Monday. — I preached yesterday in the Westminster Pres-
byterian Church in the A. M. and Goodsell there at night. That is the
church where Poe is buried. There are many very old graves in
the yard, and a man lives under the church among the old tombstones.
I should not wonder if his table is a marble slab. He says he has
a more quiet audience than the preacher in the church.

This relates to a banquet at the Carrollton given by Mr.
John B. Cornell :

May 13. — Well, the good supper is gone. One hundred and thirteen
guests present. Speeches by Bishop Simpson, General Fisk, Buckley,
Bishop Peck, Dr. A. C. George, Professor Wells, and myself. A
great and good time. No money was asked for. but I know it will
come — at least one professorship — in the time to come.

Dr. Hurst's visitations and addresses to the Conferences
took on a wider circle of travel and a more appealing tone as
he strove to lav his burden on sympathizing hearts and helpful
hands. In 1877 he said :

Ten years ago the Seminary was established. It did seem that if
ever an institution was established to move on with ease and com-
fort and uniform success, this was one. But it was not so to be.
God had wiser thoughts. The magnetic hand of McClintock was
soon to be palsied in death : his ringing voice soon to be hushed in
the silence of the past and the grave. Nadal, the earnest, the pure,
the chaste, was soon to stand beside his brother in the ranks of the
bloodwashed and redeemed. Thus the institution, in the early breath
of its springtime, was compelled to pay the penalty of its rich and
wealthy endowment of intellect by following its first princes to the
grave, and to depend upon more moderate capacities for its subse-
quent development. But it had other penalties to pay. Mr. Drew
gave his bond for the endowment fund, on which he paid interest,
until December, 1875. From that time the Seminary has been the
child of the whole Methodist Church.

On May 18, 1877, Professors Strong. Kidder, Buttz, and
Miley sent him this written message of brotherly congratula-
tion :

The Story of Drew 207

We, the Professors of Drew Theological Seminary, desire to
express to you as its President, in this frank and simple manner,
our high appreciation of your skill and perseverance in the task
of securing the current support and the reendowment of this insti-
tution. We hereby assure you of our best wishes and prayers for
your success in the farther prosecution of the work that lies before
you. and also of our hearty cooperation in your plans and efforts for
placing this school for ministerial education on a solid financial
basis.

A year later the story of "Drew's" birth and work, of its
brief and almost tragic past, and of its possible future, was
told in varying phrase but with unfailing faith and unflagging
zeal ; and this was the picture he drew :

There runs by Madison the old colonial road leading from New
York to Morristown. Over the snows of this historical highway
Washington's invincible little army passed with bare and bleeding
feet many times. About forty-five years ago a gentleman and lady
of large wealth and high social position, originally from Georgia,
were riding over this road, and came to a magnificent forest of stately
trees and winding roads of rare beauty. The lady, his wife, greatly
admired the trees. Afterward she expressed her admiration many
times, and her husband resolved to build a house upon it. He remem-
bered a baronial estate in England, which he believed extremely
tasteful and beautiful. That became his model. He erected a mag-
nificent mansion. The work was all done by hand. The locks and
hinges on the doors were of the most superb and lasting workman-
ship. The basement was so arranged as to be, one part a vast wine
cellar, and the other rooms for his troop of servants. The floors
were covered with the best carpets that Persian and French looms
could produce. The walls were ornamented with the best pictures
that wealth could gather from the Continental artists. The grounds
were laid out with exquisite taste, and ornamented with rare flowers.
He had two great buildings, additionally, erected — one for his full-
blood horses, the other for his carriages. He finished his work and
walked his marble halls, and could say. as he looked through the
vistas of his beautiful grove, "Is not this great Babylon which I
have builded?"

He was a skeptic, and had builded much more wisely than he knew.
He had no sympathy with any church, and would not give for great

2o8 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

charitable purposes. One day a plain Christian woman climbed up
his palace steps and asked him for a subscription for the new Meth-
odist church in the town. He refused. As she descended his palace
steps she turned to him and said, "This house you have built will
some day belong to our church and preachers of the gospel." She
was as true a prophetess as Miriam, sister of Moses. In a few years
the owner died; his wife died; no one lived in the place. All the
furniture remained, but the spiders spun their webs and the bats
began to seek shelter in its stately halls. In 1866 Bishop Janes
visited it; went through it from cellar to garret; and on his recom-
mendation, one May morning in 1867, at about 8 o'clock, it was
bought by Mr. Drew, and was paid for in cash on the spot.

The building and grounds proved a perfect adaptation to their
uses. The wine cellar is our storehouse for coal. The suite of
bedrooms, some twelve in number, stretching from wing to wing,
are the perfect alcoves of our magnificent library. The parlor hap-
pens to be my lecture room in Church History; the dancing hall is
now the place where young men study the doctrines of our church;
the dining hall, whose rich carpet required six men to pull it from
the room, is now our chapel. The two outbuildings, once the stables
and the carriage houses, were pulled down, all save the walls, and
are now the beautiful and comfortable rooms where young Methodist
full-bloods sleep, eat, and get ready for the work of spreading scrip-
tural holiness over all these lands.

Precisely two years ago our endowment failed us. All pledges were
broken because of the failure of Mr. Drew. It was a bitter hour.
I have heard of vessels springing a leak, but I have never heard
of one where the entire hull dropped apart and let the sea in and
the cargo out, at the mandate of a single cruel wave like this. I
was brought up on an old-fashioned Maryland farm. The dinner
was cooked in what we called a Dutch oven. I have known the
oven to get cracked, but I never had the experience of the whole
bottom dropping out and letting the dinner into the fire. But, Mr.
President, we were determined that Drew Seminary should not die.
We had been placed in charge of that interest, and we felt that the
church would hold us responsible. For one, I had no share in my
connection with that interest. I was in Germany at the time, and
no one knew less of my going than I did. It was no part of my
plan. I went there ; I believed in it ; I loved its work ; I believe in it
now. I know its future. So when the crisis came we did not flinch.

An adaptation from Tennyson closes the story:

The Victory 209

"Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Someone had blundered:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the Valley of" —

Bankruptcy rode that Faculty and 120 students. They are coming out
again. We have asked the church, not through the prints, but
privately, for $300,000. We have succeeded in securing $170,000.
There remains to be subscribed $130,000. For this we are making an
appeal to the church.

Of this address, at the West Virginia Conference, Dr.
George C. Wilding says :

He profoundly moved the Conference and made a host of new
friends for Drew Seminary as well as for himself. All of us caught
a new conception of the right and wrong uses of wealth.

As the new school year was beginning he sends this mes-
sage to his loved and revered friend, Dr. William Nast :

September 17. — I have been very busy with the endowment plan.
It is growing all the time, and I have little time for study. But the
better day is coming.

He skillfully organized and wisely conducted a movement
in Philadelphia in which Charles Scott was of great assistance
and by which another professorship was more than amply
endowed, although it cost him, as he afterward told the
Preachers' Meeting, many a midnight walk on the streets of
that city and a broken rest on his return trip to Madison. By
letters numbering many hundreds and by appeals to the
preachers at the Conferences he secured another professorship
as a memorial to Bishop Edmund S. Janes. His large-minded
and kind-hearted trustees subscribed and gave another pro-
fessorship, and when other contributions from the Ladies'

210 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

Endowment Association, the alumni, and many other indi-
vidual donors had been gathered in, and the president had
been made bishop, this same Board, who had stood bravely
with him through the four years of effort for the reendowment,
did this beautiful act at its meeting in the fall of 1880:

The Finance Committee reported an endowment of more than
$310,000 secured, and with simple justice gave the credit of raising
this vast sum, in a time of unprecedented business depression, chiefly
to Dr. John F. Hurst. The endowment is a fact, and Dr. Hurst was
the chief factor in its accumulation. The trustees, however, had not
failed in their duty, and he would be the last to claim any credit
due to others. The culmination of interest was reached when, on
motion of General Fisk, the name of the Trustees' Professorship,
founded by their gifts, was changed to the "Hurst Professorship."
If Bishop Hurst had nothing to say, his genial smile was reinforced
by a tear as he saw that the trustees added personal love to honor
and respect.

Professor George R. Crooks, in his address at the twenty-
fifth anniversary of "Drew," in 1892, said:

I think that everyone will admit that the President, John F.
Hurst, was fully equal to the emergency. If other men were dis-
mayed, he was not. It was proposed to mortgage the property to
meet immediate expenses ; to this he interposed a very decided nega-
tive. He believed it to be possible to reendow the school, and to
that devoted all his strength during a series of years, which, though
not many when counted, must have seemed to him interminably
long. It was pathetic to follow President Hurst in his journey from
Conference to Conference, pleading wherever he went for a cause
that had been lost but was to be won again. He was pleading with
a church not too quick to respond to calls for help to maintain
theological training. He was pleading for an institution which in
all these years had been regarded as the creation of one man, in a
certain sense as his property, and not, therefore, an object of church
sympathy. A little slowly, but quite surely, the transfer of feeling
was made. The church took Drew Seminary to its heart, adopted
the school as its own child, and has ever since watched over it
with a parent's solicitude. By that divine alchemy in which God
never fails evil has been turned into good; the church has taken the

Heroic Energy Wins 21 r

place of a single benefactor; and, while we gratefully cherish Mr.
Drew's memory, we are satisfied that God has ordered these events
for the best. The triumph of the heroic President was, however,
followed by his separation from the Seminary. For as Saul, who
went out to search for his father's lost property, found a kingdom,
so he, traveling in much sorrow to recover a lost endowment, found
a bishopric.

At the memorial service held at Meadville during the
Bishops' meeting in May, 1903, Bishop Foss said of this
achievement and of his presidency :

The forceful and persistent young president leaped at once into
the arena to retrieve this great loss and to endow the institution. He
first of all assumed the payment of all bills, and also the salaries of
the professors in the Faculty, and went out and begged for money
with these burdens on his back, and secured more by way of solid
endowment than had been lost. In this office Bishop Hurst executed
the various functions with conspicuous success and great intelligence.

His confrere. Dr. Buttz. who knows more of this period of
his life than anyone else, bears this testimony :

His great work at Madison was as president of the institution and
as the restorer of its endowment. He threw himself into the work
of restoring the endowment with a heroism and energy that can
scarcely be overestimated. Drew Theological Seminary was without
funds. The trustees were to be informed and stimulated, the church
was to be reached, private benefactions to be secured, and all these
things were done by him with a master hand. It has been said by
some, and not, I think, unwisely, that his work in the restoration
of the endowment of Drew Theological Seminary was the great
achievement of his life, and the success of that work his greatest
monument.

Bishop McCabe says :

He did his work so deftly, so swiftly, so thoroughly, that the church
scarcely felt the jar of that lost endowment, and many thousands of
our members do not realize to this day that that grand institution
of sacred learning was ever in peril at all.

2i2 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

XXXIX

The President-Professor

Vacation Glimpses

The summer months during his term at Drew were usually
passed in quiet either at home in the lovely grove at Madison,
or at some retreat like Martha's Vineyard, with his family ;
but always with some serious work on hand, either a new
book about to be published or a series of contributions to the
press, usually both. In 1873 he took charge of the pulpit of
Pacific Street Church in Brooklyn for the summer, while its
pastor, Dr. W. S. Studley, was in Europe, but managed in
July to take one of his favorite pedestrian tours for a few
weeks in the mountains of Virginia. His company were Dr.
Edward Eggleston and Dr. James M. Buckley, then pastor of
Hanson Place Church, Brooklyn, who says :

The tour included a large part of Virginia. Cholera was raging
in Greenville, Tennessee. Refugees from there came up to Glade
Springs. Unfortunately I was attacked by it, and was nursed by
Dr. Hurst and Dr. Eggleston for about two weeks. Subsequently,
after Dr. Eggleston's engagements had required him to depart, Presi-
dent Hurst and myself continued our tour.

Dr. Eggleston wrote in semi-humorous vein :

The pedestrian and mountain-climber par excellence of our com-
pany is Dr. Buckley. He is small, light, firmly built, and vigorous.
Look at his shoes. They are almost large enough for a six-footer,
broad- so aled, like himself, loose on the feet, firm on the heel, heavy-bot-
tomed, low-heeled, and lacing tight across the instep. Ornamental ?
Well, no. But handsome is that handsome does. These shoes have a
piece of rubber in the shank, an English device to give them elasticity
under the hollow of the foot. Dr. Hurst has quite a different pair of
"shoemaker's ponies." Made in Germany, they are short, stout, heavy-

Vacations in Virginia and Maine 213

soled, and remarkable for the hobnails on the bottom. These homely
hobnailed things have trodden the soil of every European country.
My own shoes would make delicate music in an Irish shindy. For
company, seek men congenial, unselfish, and with legs that fail not.
And for country you want a mountainous one. "White Top," six
thousand feet high, at the junction of Virginia, North Carolina, and
Tennessee, and commanding a wonderful landscape, is only fifteen
miles away. It is time to lace our shoes and strap our knapsacks on
our backs. I wish the admiring readers of that learned and stout
octavo known as Hurst's History of Rationalism could have seen the
illustrious author of it as he bade farewell to civilization, and, clad
in brown shirt and pantaloons, with hob-nailed shoes and knapsack,
plunged into the wilderness of Iron Mountain range.

The trio of tired travelers, including the temporary "in-
valid," who showed his usual marvelous powers of recupera-
tion, rested that night in the mountain home of Bird Dinkens,
their host for two days and guide to the summit of old White
Top.

In the spring and early summer, 1874, he supplied with
Professor Buttz the pulpit of Saint Paul's, New York, during
the illness of Dr. Chapman, the pastor, and in July he took a
brief respite at Mount Desert Island, Maine, in company again
with Dr. Buckley and J. B. Faulks, of Newark Conference.
From headquarters at Deacon Clark's, Southwest Harbor, he
thus writes to Mrs. Hurst :

July 9. — I have about given up going toward Mount Katahdin.
I would be five or six days away from telegraph, and I can't do
that. You may expect this to be my address all the time. Here are
walks and sails in abundance with great fishing. Buckley and Faulks
don't want to give me up, but I fear you may be sick, or something
may happen, while here I can get a telegram in an hour's time.
This cool sea air is grand for my tired head. To-day we start on
foot (three of us) for a fourteen miles' walk to the summit of the
highest mountain.

12. — I am doing well, getting sea air and bathing every day, and
am within telegraphic communication with you all the time. You
have been kind to wish me to take a vacation, and I know I never

214 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

needed rest more in all my life. How much I love you, as I think
over your sweet nature and beautiful character, and always devel-
oping mind. You are always growing more lovely and attractive
to me. There are many days of joy before us here, and an eternity
of happiness beyond them. Well, this is poetical, and yet it is the
language of my heart. I know it is just as much that of yours. The
morning I wrote you last, Faulks, Buckley, and I started off to visit
the highest mountain (Green Mountain) on the Island, which we
reached nearly at night, and where we slept that night. The mountain
lies on the other side of the Island, so we made half the circuit.
On the next day we completed the circuit of the Island, making in
all about 35 miles in the two days. On this day we visited the
overhanging cliffs above the sea. where the sea birds build their
nests; the caves which the sea makes in the rocks, and other points
of interest, with the finale of a rain and fog, and a sail home of
five miles, with a young man as captain who was courting a farmer's
daughter and was willing to interrupt his love tryst for a $5 bill.

The family group in the Madison home gave a glad welcome
to the third daughter, Blanche, who was born in September,
1874, and to their third son, Paul, about a year later.

A common practice with him was to visit the colleges and
universities during the Commencement season, making ad-
dresses and preaching baccalaureate sermons. Invitations for
this service were far more numerous than his time and
strength would permit him to accept. One of these was to
the Ohio Wesleyan University in 1876, of which he writes to
Mrs. Hurst from Columbus, June 1 7 :

Left Delaware this a. m. The place was wild with joy that Hayes
is nominated. He was born there. Dr. McCabe married him and
his wife, and says she is a devoted, open Methodist; and they always
go to the Methodist church. Good ! I had a most delightful time
at Dr. McCabe's. Talked three quarters of an hour with the students.
Reached here at 8:30 and followed a little company to the capitol.
where I was introduced to Governor Hayes, and congratulated him.
He is a plain, genial man. I am much pleased with him.

In 1879. in need of rest as usual from his toilsome year of
professorial and literary work, and closing his triumphant

An Outing in Europe 215

canvass for reendowment, he spent about four months in
Europe. With Edward S. Ferry and Olin B. Coit as com-
panions, he sailed from New York on the Bothnia on May 21
and landed at Queenstown the 31st. A trip through Ireland,
Scotland, and England gave him a chance to see Cork, Blar-
ney Castle, Killarney (three days), Muckross Abbey, Gap
of Drenloe, the three Lakes, Innisfallen Abbey, the home
of Spenser, Dublin, Londonderry, Giant's Causeway, Belfast,
Glasgow, Ayr, Edinburgh, Lochs Lomond and Katrine, the
Trossach valley, the Highlands, Abbotsford, Melrose Abbey,
the Lake Country, Westmoreland, York, and London. He
spent a few days in London from June 15 to the 25th. This
absence from home gave opportunity for more letters to Mrs.
Hurst, which tell of his summer's wanderings and breathe
the spirit of this busy but helpful outing:

June 20. — I have seen here the inside of the Bank of England,
the Abbey, South Kensington Museum, the Tower, and the book-
stores. To-day we go to the National Gallery. Yesterday we walked
through Hyde Park, and saw the homely aristocracy in their gay
equipages. The only good-looking people we saw were the coachmen.

22. — This a. m. we went to hear Dean Stanley preach. Immense
crowd. We got in and had excellent seats, right before him. The
Dean preached about half an hour on the Prince Imperial's death.

No. 3 Steffensweg, Bremen-, June 28.
I had a tedious ride to Bremen from England. On a map you will
see my course : Vlissingen, Breda, Yenlo, Crefeld, Osnabriick, Miin-
ster, Bremen. I reached here up. m. and came to Hilmann's Hotel.
It fairly drew tears to my eyes as I thought of the past. After I
took breakfast I walked along the old Wall. It was just like Paradise
itself. The Conference adopted very complimentary resolutions,
resolved that I take part in their deliberations, and that I have a seat
beside the Bishop, in the pulpit. All this is very pleasant, and makes
me think I am not forgotten. Sulzberger said he had been long
dreaming about me; and all the preachers were just as kind as they
could be. I am assigned lodgings with Doering. 3 Steffensweg.
We all take dinner in a Restauration in the Stadt, near Ansgar's

216 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

church. As I came up for tea to Doering's, I knew every foot of
the old way. I came through the Faulenstrasse, stopped at Wil-
helmi's, where we bought the clock. He was out, but his wife remem-
bered me. Vogt has the grocery store just the same; Stoecker has
the same dry-goods store yet. Then I came out to the Wall again
and walked up across the railroad to Steffensweg. How nice every-
thing looks here ! Very different from what we were permitted to
have. The sitting room is to the right as you go in. Our bedroom
is now the dining room. On the left the front room is my sleeping
room, and back, in the little Jackson room, is Bishop Wiley's room.
He chose it, because it was away from the street and more quiet.
I send you a leaf from one of the old five hollies. Two leaves from
Sulzberger, from dear sweet Clara's grave.

Roederberg 88, Fraxkfort-ox-Main, July 4.

On reaching the Friedhof I went directly to the grave. I looked
at it with such an interest as I have no language to express. Dear
child ! She is far beyond us all as yet ! I bought the prettiest wreath
I could find from one of the wreath women who sit on the benches
to sell them, and laid it on the grave. It touched the rosebush and
knocked off some fading roses, and I send you some of the leaves.

July 6. — I am in Frankfort still, you see. I see so much that inter-
ests me, catching up with all the books at Alt's that have appeared
in the last eight years, and walking the streets and alleys, that I may
stay here several days yet. I have consulted a physician here, and
he recommends me to go to Schwalbach, where I shall go in a few
days more, and spend two or three weeks. Then I shall go to Switzer-
land, on my tramp there. I have been out to see the grave of Clara
each of the three days I have been here, and taken a wreath. Yester-
day I put on a beautiful basket of flowers. The monument is very
pretty, and the inscription perfect still. Carl Schurz called on me,
and I am going to dine with him to-day, with the consul, Mr. Lee.

9. — I start this A. M. for Berlin, and will take Halle and Leipzig
on the way. Last night the consul, Mr. Lee, President Hayes's par-
ticular friend, gave a dinner party for me, at the new hotel, Frank-
forter Hof, in the new Kaisersstrasse, which runs off from left of
Hotel d'Angleterre to the depots.

Leipzig, July 10.

Here I am in Leipzig, having come on yesterday from Frankfort,
and reached here at n 130 last night. I visited the Wartburg, where
Luther translated the Bible and threw the inkstand at the devil's
head. I shall call on Mr. Gregory here, and get some information

In Germany and Switzerland 217

about the University. He is an American from Princeton. Then I
shall hear three or four of the lectures ; and to-morrow a. m. call at
Halle and hear three or four more, and go to Berlin, getting there
Saturday night. I shall stay in Berlin two days and then return to
Frankfort, and go at once to Schwalbach, and take the Kur. . . .
Night of July 10. — I have reveled in the old Bookstores. I write
them in capital initial because of my reverence for them. But I
buy few books. Don't give yourself much trouble on that score.
I have heard some of the best lecturers here, and have had a real
treat: Kahnis, Fricke, Lechler, Delitzsch (son), Luthardt, Delitzsch
(father), and I have had a wonderful time hearing them. I called
on Delitzsch, Sr., and had a delightful interview with him. I had
some talk about the Samaritans, one of my hobbies. He gave me
much information, and had many books I had not seen. In the A. M.
I heard lectures and saw the library, and in the afternoon I went
around among the Paradises (Bookstores). At Brockhaus's I saw a
wonderful place, and went through their different departments. To-
morrow I start for Halle, and maybe I shall get to Berlin by night,
as I shall have less to hear and see than in dear old Halle. It will
make me sad to be there without seeing Tholuck and Julius Miiller.

During a short tarry in Berlin at Hotel Rome he met Mr.

J. B. Cornell and Dr. Charles S. Harrower, of New York.

After a three weeks' stay at Schwalbach, drinking its famous

water and writing his Basel address, he writes Mrs. Hurst

from Rigi, Switzerland :

August 12. — Well, great changes here, a magnificent hotel, no com-
petition, big prices, and much impudence.

Meyringex, Switzerland, August 15.
I am pretty tired to-night, having walked eight hours, with knap-
sack. But I will not go to bed without dropping you a few lines.
I am very well, and my journey is doing me a world of good. You
can follow me with a map, from Zurich: Zug, Arth, Rigi, Waggis,
Lucerne, Fliielen, Altorf, Amsteg, Andermatt, Furka, Rhone Glacier,
Grimsel, Haudeck Falls, Guttannen, and here, in Meyringen. This
place calls up our delightful visit. They lighted up the Reichenbach
Falls to-night, and it was a very pretty sight from balcony of hotel.
We crossed the Furka Pass yesterday, and slept last night at Grimsel
Hospice, right among the snowdrifts. We snowballed each other
yesterday, and ate snowballs, too. The inclosed flowers Olin asked

2i 8 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

me to send to you. He pulled them from right alongside of the snow.
To-morrow we start for the Grindelwald, and to Interlaken — just
exactly our route over again.

Martigny, August 24.

I am now in Martigny, having reached here after a long 9 hours'
walk. We came to the same hotel (de la Poste) where we once
stopped. You remember how old and quaint-looking it was. It was
an old convent three centuries ago. I think the same people have
charge of it now as then.

Geneva, August 29.

Yesterday we saw the city well. Dr, Stevens was our cicerone.
He is looking as well as I ever saw him, and has his book on Madame
de Stael nearly ready.

From Basel, after his able address in German at the Evan-
gelical Alliance, he hastens to Clugny, spends a few days at
Paris (Sorbonne), is at Rouen September 15, in London the
1 6th, visits Windsor Castle, and the Chnbbs at Chislehurst,
goes to Cambridge the 22d, and to Oxford and Stratford on
the 26th.

Rev. Edward S. Ferry says :

He always had his plans thoroughly perfected. He knew where
and how and when each step was to be taken. When we returned
to London, after a pleasant evening at the home of our minister,
Mr. Welch, of Philadelphia (an old companion of the Bishop on a
Nile journey), we went for a night visit to Whitechapel, the work-
house, the cheap lodging houses, a famous opium joint, and other
scenes which gave us an idea of London wretchedness and wicked-
ness. By Mr. Welch's kindness, we were provided with an official
escort. An official investigation of conditions could not have been
more searching than the Bishop's. He questioned anybody and every-
body about all sorts of things. He knew about things, because he
sought knowledge at first hand. In all our journeys he found time
for extensive correspondence and reading. No matter how early the
hour appointed for the day's start — he had already had an hour or
more for writing. Much of his work was accomplished before others
rose.

On his arrival in New York, October 6, he sent a telegram
to Mrs. Hurst, stating that he would arrive at Madison that

A Hearty Welcome Home 219

morning by the 1 1 43 train. This information was immedi-
ately conveyed to the students, who had appointed a committee
to arrange for his reception. This committee requested the stu-
dents to march to the station in a body. Eighty-two of the
students complied with the request and took a position in the
procession, according to the class to which they belonged.
When they arrived at the depot they formed themselves in two
columns extending from the car platform where the Doctor
would get off the train, to his carriage. He passed between
the columns, amid the waving of hats and great applause.
Though the Doctor was greatly fatigued from his journey,
he manifested his appreciation of the unexpected ovation by
walking in front of the procession, with three of his colleagues,
Drs. Strong, Miley, and Buttz, from the depot to his home,
where he thanked the students for their attention, and they
dispersed. At eight o'clock in the evening the committee
called the students together again for the purpose of giving
the President a surprise party. They repaired to his house and
formed themselves into three columns, around the piazza and
in front of the hall door. After the singing by the students of

"Home again, home again,
From a foreign shore,"

Dr. Hurst came to the door and invited them in to spend a
social hour.

220 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

XL
The Delegate

His Address at Basel

Set like an apple of gold in a picture of silver is his address
in German on Christian Union at the meeting of the Evan-
gelical Alliance in Basel, Switzerland. Its composition and
delivery furnish a fine illustration of his power of isolating
himself from the easy-going environment of a much-needed
vacation, and applying himself to the preparation of a special
literary and oratorical endeavor on a vital theme to be pre-
sented to the highest council of Protestant Christendom. To
his wife he wrote from Frankfort on July 6, 1879:

I must be somewhere where I can write my paper for the Alliance,
and I could not do it here, for I would be interrupted by the neighbors.

On the ninth he had reached his decision :

I shall write up my Evangelical Alliance paper at Schwalbach.

On the eighteenth he was at Schwalbach, and there on the
twentieth he writes of his new workshop and how he steeled
himself for the effort which as we shall see by no means lacked
the knightly spirit :

I am delightfully situated in the Hotel "Yier Jahreszeiten." I have
a large front room, three windows, that let in the blaze of the sun
all day. I have a good bed, a big table for writing, two nice rugs, a
rustic armchair (not so big as the one at home), and always a good
appetite. I can do my share of sleeping, too. My first p. m. nap
stopped at tfA and to-day at 5 ; so you see I am doing well in
that respect. I take my "coffee" in my room — which means a pot
of chocolate, bread and butter, and two eggs. At dinner, which is
at I, I have table d'hote at a hotel. In the evening I take anything

Drinking Steel 221

I please and where I please. I must get up at 6 and go to the Steel
Spring and drink, then walk a half hour. At 11 I must drink more
steel. Then at 12 I must take a fifteen-minute bath in steel water.
So I am getting toned up. I think by this time I have swallowed
and soaked up enough to make several knives and files. And this
for nearly three weeks ! I shall be a whole cutlery by the time I get
through.

August 3. — I have finished my address, and copied it. It makes
42 pages large letter size. I am going to reduce it very much, say
10 pages, and Ferry and Coit will then copy it.

Mr. Ferry says :

As Dr. Coit and I were amanuenses we learned something about
his methods of composition. His words were chosen with what
seemed to me painful deliberation — but the sentence once formed
needed no revision, and for simple and comprehensive expressiveness
could hardly have been bettered. He walked through his address as
he did through the mountain paths. He was an ideal pedestrian.

Dr. Olin B. Coit, now of the Northern New York Confer-
ence, writes :

I heard his great speech, which all said was easily the master
oration of the evening. He wrote it in English, translated it into
German, had Sulzberger correct it, and then committed it to memory;
spoke it easily and had faultless accent.

His presence and address at Basel on September 6 are de-
scribed by Rev. Marcus L. Taf t in the Christian Advocate :

That genial American, with manly bearing, walking under the
long avenue of trees, and greeted now and then by acquaintances,
foreign and native, is Dr. Hurst, president of Drew Theological
Seminary. On his recent pedestrian tour over the snowy Alps, the
sun and the glaciers have tanned his features somewhat. He looks
remarkably fresh and strong, as if he never knew pressure of work
at Madison. Dr. Hurst's theme was concerning "True Christian
Unity." His touching allusion to the sainted spirits — Tholuck, Krum-
macher, Emile Cook, Hodge, and others — who had departed from
earth since the last session of the Alliance in New York, and who
are now celebrating true Christian Union on high, produced a marked
effect upon the attentive audience.

222 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

His full topic was Christian Union as a Necessary Factor
for Religious Progress and Defense, the closing event of the
session. Dr. Plitt, of Prussia, and Pastor Talbot, of France,
were the preceding speakers on the general theme of Christian
Union. He characterized the spiritual unity of the primitive
or apostolic church as an ideal for modern effort. But this
unity is compatible with great diversity of form. Attempts
at enforced uniformity have always been failures. Denom-
inational standards and independence need not be sacrificed.
The growing spirit of Christian unity in our own time is
showing itself in an irenic theology, in the approaches and
reunions of the divided churches, the revision of our English
Bible, the international Sunday school lessons, and the work
of the Evangelical Alliance and Young Men's Christian Asso-
ciation. The church has more in common — its Bible, its funda-
mental doctrines, its hymnology, its heroes, its memories —
than it has to sunder it. It has no time nor energy to lose
in fruitless controversy.

In writing to Dr. William Xast, October 16, Dr. Hurst says
of his address :

I took pains with it, and intended by it to do the best service
I could to our German brethren in the Fatherland by showing the
oneness of the church of Christ, and the claim of all believers to
membership and work and recognition as members of the one church.

Martyrs to the Tract Cause 223

XLI
The Author

Writing at Drew. — Life and Literature in the Fatherland. — Outlines of

Bible and Church History. — Launching of the Biblical and

Theological Library with George R. Crooks

The heavy tasks and daily routine of the professor in the
class room and lectures to the groups of young men, and the
cares of administration of the president in superintending and
executing all details involved in his relations to the Faculty,
the trustees, the body of students, and the Conferences, did
not seem to interfere with the constant production of books,
and the entrance upon ever-broadening schemes for farther
literary work. Even the extraordinary drafts upon his time
and energies made by the loss and necessary retrievement
of the endowment, though they retarded the rate of progress,
did not stifle the execution of his plans.

His first book after taking the chair at "Drew" was Martyrs
to the Tract Cause : A Contribution to the History of the Ref-
ormation, issued by the Methodist Book Concern in 1872, but
prepared for the press partly during his last year in Frankfort
and completed during his first year in Madison. While resting
one day in 1870 from his work at the Institute by indulging
in his favorite pastime — rummaging in a secondhand book-
store— he purchased a copy of Otto Thielemann's Martyrer der
Traktatsache, published in 1864 by the Wupperthal Tract
Society, at the celebration of the Jubilee anniversary of its
organization at Barmen in 1814. This work he translated and
to it added important portions of his own. Dr. Faulkner's
estimate of this book is a high one :

One of our most interesting brief contributions to church history.

224 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

From the same press and in the same year came the first of
his series of most useful little compends on the Outline of
Bible History, which in its circulation of upward of 30,000
copies in English, and of many in Italian, has been to multi-
tudes at once a guide and an incentive to the systematic and
analytic study of the Scriptures. The Rev. J. C. Garritt, Pres-
byterian, says :

I used the work in the course of instructing two classes for the
ministry, at Han-kau, China, and found it very useful.

His next book was, more than any other he ever wrote,
the outgrowth of his own personal experience and history
and of a persuasion deeply felt that the German people de-
served and the American people needed the mutual advantage
which his Life and Literature in the Fatherland brought to
both. It was brought out by Scribners in 1875 and immedi-
ately captured the attention and favor of the public press and
won its way to a fine distinction among works treating of our
Teutonic cousins. The character of this volume and the
warmth of its reception appear in the opinions which have been
given by competent reviewers. Professor Faulkner says :

Few books equal it in breadth of view and accuracy ; racy, interest-
ing as a novel, full of keen and genial observations of one who had
the true instincts of a traveler.

Professor George Prentice says:

The author attempts nothing like wit, yet he often attains the effect
of it. When he has some marvelous legend to relate the tale slips
from his pen with such entire gravity that one might easily suppose
a Bollandist were reciting it for the edification of the faithful.
Rarely does a careless word betray the smile that lurks around
the author's lips as he narrates these wonders of tradition. Instances
of this are the legend of the planting of Christianity at Heilbronn,
and also that of the Chapel at Bottigen. The humorous effect is
quiet, but irresistible.

Praise from the Press 225

The Chicago Inter Ocean says :

When a man can take up a book of travel, read a few chapters,
become absorbed, forget that the cuckoo-clock in the hall beyond has
long since cooed the hour when honest folks, and they who value their
immortal complexions, are abed, it is a pretty tolerable indication
that that book has been written by a master hand, and that its con-
tents are of no common order. It is pleasant to meet with a com-
panion like Mr. Hurst, a man so observant, so sensible, so full of
sympathy, so genial, and withal the possessor of so captivating a style,
that one feels loath to part with him. From beginning to end Mr.
Hurst's book is a model of descriptive power.

The sober and solid Sunday School Times expresses its
wonder :

It seems almost incredible that any human being, naturally con-
stituted, could throw himself so completely with German modes of
thought and action, and at the same time exhibit such perfect ease
and mastery in English composition.

The Independent praises its usefulness,, but adds :

We have read its pages, from the first to the last, with so much
interest and pleasure that we are inclined first of all to commend the
book for the innocent and enjoyable satisfaction it has in store for its
readers.

It must have been with peculiar pleasure that the editor of
the Ladies' Repository, Dr. Erastus Wentworth. his old pre-
ceptor at Carlisle, penned this testimony to this new success
of one of his pupils :

His pictures of life in Germany, his descriptions of the universities,

his characterization of learned professors, his accurate delineation

of their manners, lives, and philosophies, his facts about university

education, its value and usefulness to American students, his memories

of the Franco-Germanic War, and his excursions into the Tyrol are

all so intensely interesting that when we take up the volume we do

not lay it down till we have devoured its contents as we would a

romance.
16

226 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

The Christian at Work discriminates finely :

His style, which is very pure, is characterized alike by simplicity
and strength. He says what he wants to without putting on the
airs of a fine writer. His pen does not separate him from the human-
ities. His thoughts are linked with the moving and breathing world.
With an inherited instinct he finds poetry in familiar objects, and epic
power in the lowly and even vulgar botherations and trials one meets
with in the jolting cars which carry him over rough places.

His Outline of Church History followed in 1875, by Meth-
odist Book Concern (revised edition, 1879), and has had a
circulation of more than 20,000 copies. Around this germinal
brief, it may be said, clustered all his subsequent and larger
works of church history, as in ever-enlarging form they came
from either his producing or shaping hand. It has helped
thousands to their initial grasp upon the progress of the church
of Christ and to an harmonious view of the ecclesiastical de-
velopment of the kingdom of God among men as an integral
fact of supreme importance in human affairs. A Spanish
translation was published in Mexico in 1878. Like its prede-
cessor, Outline of Bible History, it was translated into Italian
by Dr. (now Bishop) William Burt. The second edition of
each came from the press at Rome in 1904.

In the centennial year of the republic Randolph (Xew York,
1876) published his Our Theological Century, a discourse
suited to the time. Its delivery on a few public occasions,
once in the Methodist Episcopal church of Madison, occupied
ninety-five minutes, usually divided between two services.
With some additions and annotations he put it in its published
form, a neat duodecimo of 70 pages. Of it Dr. Faulkner says :

The pivotal matters of our history are touched on with skill.

While in the very vortex of travel and travail for reendow-
ment there comes from the Harpers' press (New York, 1877)
one of their Greek and Latin Texts, prepared conjointly with

Seneca's Moral Essays 227

Dr. Henry C. Whiting, his Seneca's Moral Essays, with Notes.
In it may be found a learned disquisition on Seneca's personal
history, his philosophy, his character, his works in their sev-
eral editions, and his hypothetical relations with Saint Paul.
Seneca's On Tranquillity of Mind was always a favorite theme
of Dr. Hurst in dealing with difficult problems in practical life
and one which he illustrated by his own great calmness of mind
when in circumstances ordinarily most perturbing. The book
has had wide use in schools and colleges and is still in steady
demand, having reached its seventh thousand. It was the
fulfillment of a desire and purpose which possessed him as
early as 1858. when, in his first year's pastorate, he wrote in
his Journal':

October 4. — Bought a translation of Seneca at Reeves's Antiquarian
Store, New York.

and again :

November 1. — Wrote to J. B. Paton. of Sheffield [an English Con-
gregationalist minister and friend made in Italy]. Detailed to him
plans of writing an edition of Seneca.

Among several side strokes of his helpful pen were the
introductions he wrote to Dr. James H. Rigg's The Living
Wesley as He Was in His Youth and Prime (London and
New York, 1875) ; Mrs. E. J. Knowles's Christmas Chimes
(New York, 1877) ; and Dr. L. D. McCabe's Foreknowledge
of God and Cognate Themes (Cincinnati, 1878).

His address at Basel in its English form was prepared sep-
arately and enlarged for the press and published by the Meth-
odist Book Concern in 1880 under the title, Christian Union
Necessary for Religious Progress and Defense; "a satisfying
paper," says Professor Faulkner, "illuminated with lights from
his wide reading and softened by the catholicity of his large
spirit."

228 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

During the first two years of his presidency he found time
to enter into a dual alliance with Dr. George R. Crooks to
create under a joint editorial supervision a Biblical and The-
ological Library. Within a few months they had arranged
for a schedule of books to be prepared which embraced nine
treatises, and as early as June, 1874, ten names of Methodist
scholars were announced to write them : Theological Ency-
clopaedia and Methodology, Luther T. Townsend; Introduc-
tion to the Study of the Scriptures, Henry M. Harman; Bib-
lical Hermeneutics, Henry Bannister; Biblical and Christian
Archaeology, Charles W. Bennett and George H. Whitney;
Systematic Theology (two volumes), Randolph S. Foster;
Evidences of Christianity, Henry B. Ridgaway; Christian
Theism and Modern Science, Alexander Winchell ; History
of Christian Doctrine (two volumes), George R. Crooks; His-
tory of the Christian Church (two volumes), John F. Hurst.

Such was the dream of two of the foremost scholars of
American Methodism in 1874, and so early was the beginning
of its fulfillment that Dr. Harman's Introduction was published
in 1878. To trace the changes of plan made necessary by
death, preoccupation, and other sufficient causes would furnish
an interesting chapter in the history of Methodist literature;
a paragraph here must suffice. The second of the series to
appear was Hermeneutics, from the hand, not of Bannister
the beloved and beatified, of Garrett, but of Dr. Milton S.
Terry, then in the pastorate in New York, and later of the
same institution, published in 1883 (revised edition, 1892).
In the same year it was announced that the Systematic The-
ology would be written by James E. Latimer instead of Bishop
Foster ; that Christian Theism and Modern Thought would be
prepared by Professor Charles J. Little ; and that the work on
Encyclopedia and Methodology would be written by Drs.
Crooks and Hurst. This last-named work appeared in 1884.

Biblical and Theological Library 229

and in a revised edition ten years later. Dean Latimer, of
Boston School of Theology, having died, it was announced
in January, 1886, that Bishop Foster would write the System-
atic Theology, but in April a reconsideration left the name of
the writer of this important work blank. In July of the same
year Dr. Bennett's name appeared alone in connection with
the announcement concerning Archaeology, which was pub-
lished in 1888, and. in a new edition, revised by Professor
Amos W. Patten, in 1898. Systematic Theology, which had
been assigned to Professor John Miley, of Drew, came out in
1892 (vol. i) and 1894 (vol. ii). The History of the Christian
Church by Bishop Hurst appeared in 1897 (vol. i) and 1900
(vol. ii). The Foundations of the Christian Faith, by Pro-
fessor Charles W. Rishell, of Boston School of Theology,
published in 1900, was substituted for the Evidences of Chris-
tianity first planned for Dr. Ridgaway. The volume on Chris-
tian Theism has not yet (1905) appeared, and, alas! the
History of Christian Doctrine had never been written when
the hand of the scholarly Crooks dropped the pen to grasp the
palm.

One of his last friendly acts for young authors before leav-
ing the dear oaks and cheery firesides of Drew for the new
home in Des Moines, bearing date of December 10, 1880, wras
his four-page introduction to Mary Sparkes Wheeler's book,
First Decade of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, with Sketches of Its Mis-
sionaries (New York, 1881). It is a sprightly and cordial
recognition of the noble work of God's elect women in sending
and carrying the gospel to those who had never seen its light
or heard its story of lcve.

230 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

XLII

The Delegate

Two General Conferences. — Elected Bishop

While the clouds of financial disaster hung heavy in their
first gloom over his loved school of the prophets at Madison,
his brethren of the Newark Conference, to which he had been
transferred from Germany and Switzerland in 1873, placed
him at the head of their clerical delegation to the General Con-
ference of 1876, meeting in Baltimore. Note has already been
made of his earnest private work there for putting the Sem-
inary on a firm foundation. On the election of Secretary the
first day he served as one of the four tellers; he was also a
member of the standing Committees on Episcopacy and Edu-
cation and of the special Committee on Pastoral Address. On
the tenth day he presented the action of the Newark Confer-
ence against the election of presiding elders, and the fourteenth
day a resolution to exempt theological students from exam-
ination in certain studies, and also his report on Drew
Theological Seminary, announcing that the preparatory de-
partment had been discontinued, and that vigorous measures
were already in successful operation for reendowing the
institution.

As the quadrennium from 1876 to 1880 advanced and the
preparations for the next General Conference were in progress
the opinion prevailed that several bishops would be elected.
Bishops Janes, Ames, and Gilbert Haven had died. Among
the names canvassed in a hundred circles of interested friends
of the church frequent mention was made of President Hurst
as one of the few who would receive the call to that exalted

Elected Bishop 231

office and station in the church. Many of his friends were not
slow to make known to him their desire and expectation. In
writing to his son, John La Monte Hurst, on March 9, 1880,
he said :

It is much better for me to remain where I am. If I am elected,
I shall have nothing to say, but the chances are not favorable.

He led the Newark Conference delegation again in 1880
at the General Conference, held in Cincinnati. He was as
before a member of the standing Committees on Episcopacy
and on Education and presented two petitions from the New-
ark Conference on Church Extension and on temperance.
Writing to his son John from Cincinnati, May 3, he says:

If I am defeated it will be all right, and you must not be disap-
pointed. The Lord will take care of us just as well without it as
with it, and perhaps it is best that there be no change in my work.

And on May 7 to Mrs. Hurst :

I shall take it very quietly, and believe all will be well in the end.
I will telegraph you immediately after the election, let me be in or
not. Pray that it may turn out best for us all. I shall be happy
in any event, whatever that may be.

On Wednesday, May 12, the tenth day of the Conference,
he was on the first ballot elected one of three bishops — Henry
W. Warren and Cyrus D. Foss being the other two. Dr.
Hurst voted "nay" on a proposition to postpone indefinitely
the election of another bishop, and on a third ballot Erastus
O. Haven was elected. On May 18 he requested to be relieved
from further duty as a delegate, and J. B. Faulks was admitted
to his seat. On May 19 Dr. Hurst was consecrated Bishop
of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Pike's Opera House,
Cincinnati, Bishop Simpson presiding and conducting the
examination of each bishop-elect. The house was filled to

232 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

overflowing. He was presented by James N. FitzGerald and
William Xast, who united with Bishops Wiley and Scott in
the laving on of hands. He received the charge from Bishop
Merrill, and with the three other bishops-elect his parchment
from Bishop Harris. Mrs. Hurst and her two elder sons
were present in the proscenium box of General Fisk. Wednes-
day. May 26. Bishop Hurst presented his report on Drew
Theological Seminary, in which he says :

The Endowment Fund has been restored, and now amounts to
$311,000. This has been brought to pass without the employment of
a financial agent or the mortgaging of any of the property. All the
five departments of instruction in the Seminary have been sustained
during the financial reverses of the past four years.

He presided over the General Conference for the first time
on Thursday morning, May 27, and chose Des Moines as his
residence for four years. Immediately after his election an
observant reporter thus describes Bishop Hurst :

The features of this gentleman are very marked. He has large,
lustrous eyes, a Grecian nose, overarching eyebrows, a mouth which
indicates lofty and well-established character, and a high, rounding
forehead in which the reflective faculties preponderate over the per-
ceptive. His hair is rather thin, inclined to be a little sandy in color,
and generally looks as if the gentleman had run his hands through it.
His only facial adornment is a small, sandy goatee. When Bishop
Hurst smiles there is such an illumination of his countenance, espe-
cially of his eyes, that he looks positively bewitching. Such a smile
is better than a fortune of gold. In walking, Bishop Hurst stoops a
little in the shoulders and holds his head forward, giving the chin a
slight upward inclination. But he dresses immaculately — the regula-
tion white cravat and Prince Albert dress-coat, closely buttoned, and
looks in all respects like a man of distinction in the world.

The alumni of Drew Theological Seminary held a reception
a few7 evenings after the election at the Hotel Emery in honor
of the President, Dr. Hurst. Bishop Foster presided, and
the Board of Trustees was represented by Dr. Curry, Dr.

Receptions and Greetings

Ridgaway, and Mr. George J. Ferry. Dr. Hurst spoke of
his regret at the thought that his connection with the Seminary
must now close. Dr. S. M. Vernon, on behalf of the alumni, ex-
pressed the regret felt at losing Dr. Hurst from the presidency.
Dr. Curry, on behalf of the Board of Trustees, said that he had
felt it an honor and a pleasure, not unmingled with pain, to
have an immediate interest in the Drew Seminary. The
institution was now in excellent condition. It had seemed
once that it was on the very brink of ruin, but it had proved
otherwise. The munificence of Daniel Drew was not to be lost,
though he was unable to perfect it. Mr. Ferry remarked that
he had regretted the election of Bishop Foster to the Episco-
pacy, and he now felt regret because Dr. Hurst was to leave
the Seminary. The work which Dr. Hurst had performed in
raising the endowment of Drew Seminary was of the greatest
value, a work that would deserve gratitude through all future
time. Bishop Foster said that he cherished very tenderly the
memories of his life in connection with Drew Seminary; that
Dr. Hurst had seen the happiest days of his life and would
never be able to carry on anything like continuous literary
labor.

The preachers and laity of the Newark Conference united
on June 10 to give Bishop Hurst a very hearty and largely
attended reception in the Central Church at Newark, under
the general conduct of its pastor, William V. Kelley. Bishop
Harris made the main address. Another popular reception
was given him at the Arlington House, Ocean Grove, on July
5. His alma mater conferred the degree of Doctor of Laws
upon him in June. 1880, and De Pauw (Indiana Asbury)
University in July conferred the same honor.

At a meeting of the students of Drew Theological Sem-
inary, held Wednesday evening, December 15, 1880, the fol-
lowing resolutions were unanimously adopted :

234 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

Whereas, Bishop Hurst, our former President, is about to leave us
to assume the wider responsibilities of his present office; and,

Whereas, During his presidency the Seminary suffered the loss
of its entire income through the failure of Daniel Drew and thus
reached a financial crisis unprecedented in the history of literary
institutions ; and,

Whereas, Relinquishing plans for literary labor which were dear
to him and giving himself to the sole object of building up the
financial interests of the Seminary, he has in conjunction with his
colleagues succeeded so signally, and now leaves the Seminary on a
firmer basis than it has possessed at any time during the past ; and.

Whereas, His devotion to the personal interests of the students
has been both warm and constant; therefore,

Resolved, That we, the students of Drew Theological Seminary,
do express our deep sense of our deprivation, by his departure, of the
instruction and counsel of a faithful Professor and do thank him
for those advantages which are due to his untiring efforts in restoring
the institution to a prosperous condition, and do extend to him our
heartiest Godspeed in his new and broader relations to the work of the
church.

At the following session of the Newark Conference a paper

was adopted by his Conference class. It reads as found in

this letter:

Jersey City, April 6, 1881.

Rev. Bishop J. F. Hurst — Dear Brother: At a meeting of the
class of 1858, held at this city last evening, the following preamble
and resolution were unanimously adopted:

Whereas, Our beloved classmate, John F. Hurst, has been elected
and ordained a bishop of our church ; therefore,

Resolved, That our sincere and hearty congratulations are hereby
presented to our esteemed classmate ; and that we assure him of a
cheerful toleration on the part of his classmates whenever he comes
to exercise episcopal authority over us.

John F. Dodd, Class Secretary.

A Welcome to Iowa 235

XLIII
The Bishop

At Des Moines. — 1880-81. — Fifteen Conferences in Five Central States

This prophecy was made in one of the local prints of New
Jersey in the fall of 1880:

Rev. Dr. Hurst is to move soon to Des Moines, Iowa. If any
degree of arrogance is needed for a bishop, then Dr. Hurst will fail ;
but if a man full of "sweetness and light," whose simple presence
seems a benediction, is wanted, Dr. Hurst will be found to be the
right man.

A few weeks later his welcome to Iowa was reported :

Des Moines Methodism extended her warm hand of greeting last
evening (December 30) to Bishop John F. Hurst. The hand was as
warmly received as it was warmly proffered. As the Bishop and his
family had taken temporary quarters at the Kirkwood, and the pro-
prietors of the excellent house had offered their parlors for the
occasion, the reception was given there. The parlors were crowded
with a bright, intelligent, joyous assemblage. If anyone came expect-
ing cold ceremonies and restraint, he was happily disappointed. The
genial faces of the Bishop and his good lady and their cordial manner
won every heart to them. A short and hearty address of welcome
was given by the Hon. George G. Wright. He referred to the 85,000
Methodists standing back of him who welcomed the Bishop to their
hearts and homes. The Bishop then followed with a most impressive
and eloquent reply, touched up with occasional flashes of genuine
humor and pathos. This address left all who heard it his friends,
and proved that he will very amply cover the footprints of his illus-
trious predecessor.

In a letter from Centerville, September 8, 1880, the first
day of his first Conference, the Iowa, he tells Mrs. Hurst about
his experiences at Allerton, where he dedicated a church on
his way to Conference :

23^ John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

I had a great experience at Allerton. I was invited to a hotel
to stop with a Mr. Meekins. He proved to have been a tailor boy
in Cambridge, whom I used to like, and he never forgot me. White
Hurst's name (a cousin, brother of John E.) was on the register.
He had come 25 miles from Leon, where he lives, to be with me
and hear me preach. I spent the night in two sleeping cars and
one hotel — so I slept by sections. After breakfast came the dedication.
Sam Hurst (another cousin) and his wife came into the church,
and also Frank Swiggett, still another cousin, whom I had loved like
a brother, and had not seen for 25 years. Here were children of
three brothers and one sister ! Well, I begged and dedicated. All
the cousins gave. As I went into the church the painters were at
work ornamenting the spire. And what do you think they were paint-
ing as the name of the church? The ''Hurst Methodist Episcopal
Church." It just took my breath. We got all the money. The
officers named it after me as their Iowa bishop and his first dedica-
tion. I had a good time in my first session. How these preachers
stared at me !

On the second night at the educational anniversary, after an
excellent address by S. S. Murphy on the Iowa Wesleyan
University, Bishop Hurst followed with what a correspondent
describes as "one of the grandest addresses I ever listened
to, keeping the whole audience in rapt attention, and inspiring
all to a far deeper interest in the education of our youth."
E. L. Schreiner, the youngest of the six presiding elders at
that session, gives this interesting account of Bishop Hurst's
first presidency :

What impressed me first was his insight into the situation, and
helpfulness in my ignorance, by permitting none of the older and
more experienced members of the Cabinet to take advantage of my
lack to the detriment of my district. His manner was affable and
deferential to the older members of the Cabinet, but in a way that
left no doubt that he was the Bishop. In several crises that arose
in making the appointments, he showed that he had the courage of his
convictions and took the responsibility of the situation. The most
marked of these was his appointment of a man to one of the districts,
against the protest and vote of five of the six presiding elders, the
sixth being indifferent. Subsequent events justified his decision. As

His First Conference j^y

a presiding officer in the Conference he was firm and dignified, dis-
patching business with promptness and method, making a favorable
impression on the members, who eyed him critically at the beginning
of the session, but at the close said, "He will do." "He is a Bishop."
His Sunday sermon made a profound impression, not so much for
its oratorical qualities as its depth of thought and breadth of scholar-
ship. His address to the class for admission was fresh and inspiring.
He talked to the young men like one accustomed to deal with them,
and who knew what most they needed.

From Wyandotte, Kansas, at his second Conference, the
West German, he writes to Mrs. Hurst, September 16:

I am getting along nicely with the Conference here. They ad-
journed for 10 minutes this a. m. to shake hands mit dem Bischof.

Rev. J. Tanner says :

We were very glad to have him in 1880 and also in 1883 ; yes, proud,
as he was able to preach to us in German, and the proceedings of the
Conference were at his request mostly in German. In Cabinet work
and also in open Conference he was kind and brotherly. We called
him the German Bishop, and in reality he was. We would have been
much pleased if we had been permitted to have him more as our
Bishop.

Of his third Conference, the Central Illinois, at Fairbury,
Rev. C. Springer says :

He showed the deepest interest in every question pertaining to
the church or the pastor. His sermon was a scholarly and able effort.
All felt that he was a man with a message — a great message, a
message which he profoundly believed. His style of delivery was
easy and natural. Indeed, it seemed to be the simplicity of eloquence
and the eloquence of simplicity.

Of his fourth Conference, the Chicago German, at Water-
town, Wisconsin, Jacob Bletsch says :

As the Bishop understood and spoke the German language, he
gave us the privilege to speak in German, and so we had the first
German-speaking Conference. This gave the brethren present great

238 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

pleasure. The sermon of the Bishop on Sunday was also in German,
to the great joy of the preachers and people in general. The sermon
was powerful and a great blessing to all. We were so pleased with
Bishop Hurst that we expressed the desire that he would preside at
all our sessions in future.

On his way to the fifth Conference, Rock River, Rockford,
Illinois, he stopped at Chicago, where he writes Mrs. Hurst:

I had a pleasant time, but there is no fun going round among the
bookstores here.

At the Rock River, when presenting W. H. Smith in the
name of the brethren of his district a silver service, he said :

These are not to be put away in flannel bags, but are for everyday
use.

His second group of Conferences included the South Kan-
sas, at Wellington, the Kansas at Concordia, the Missouri at
Cameron, and the Saint Louis at Carthage. On his way to
the first he stops at Pleasanton, and sends this message on
February 28, 1881, to his wife:

Had to sleep with Creager. He took up more than half of the bed,
but did not snore. Your books are in the library at Pleasanton. and
a lady, where I took dinner, had read them, and that was about all
she knew of the Hurst family. Such is fame.

The session at Wellington was a stormy one. C. R. Rice

says:

Charges had been preferred against two of the most prominent
and active men in the Conference. They had been most intimate
friends, but now they were arrayed against each other, and the
preachers were divided. The young bishop groaned and travailed
in pain over the condition. He was cautious, and gained the confi-
dence of nearly every preacher by his transparent impartiality. He
bravely and prayerfully faced the difficulties. I never met a better
leader than Bishop Hurst.

In Kansas and Missouri 239

The third day of his stay at Concordia brought out this
note of discomfort, if not of discord :

March 12.
To Mrs. Hurst:

No fire in my room — have to sit in the family room, where I can't
write, or even say my prayers. Misery !

But the day following matters had changed greatly to his
liking:

My host has got a stove in the room, and now at last I have
some heat and heart and comfort.

P. T. Rhodes writes :

The town was flooded with rain, mud prevailed on the streets.
Without sidewalk or carriage the Bishop had to plunge and wade
through as best he could. He lost one of his shoes in the mud.
But he came into the Conference and Cabinet as calm and serene as
though he had been brought by a coach and four.

Richard Wake says:

We were impressed chiefly by the modesty of his bearing, amount-
ing almost to timidity at times.

From Cameron he wrote to Mrs. Hurst, March 22 :

I have for the first time a fire in my room. I wrote to the
preacher here to provide me such a place, and but for that I should
be freezing here. I have just finished an article for Advocate on
"Our Kansas Field." the first I have written since leaving home, and
because of my first fire.

March 24. — This Bishop business is a wonderful thing — everybody
wanting to do something for you, and some against you. But a queer
business, after all — biggest man in a small town for a week, and then
off to another !

O. M. Stewart says of him at the Saint Louis Conference:

His spirit was kind and tender, but his purpose granite. I learned
early in our session that he would appoint me presiding elder, and I
resisted it with all the assistance I could command, but without avail
— I now see he was correct.

240 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

B. F. Thomas joined this Conference that year and dreaded
to meet the Bishop ; but he says :

I was really amazed at the fatherly, or, perhaps better, the brotherly,
spirit he showed me. What had been painful suspense became admi-
ration, reverence, and almost devotion. My trepidation had been
much intensified by days of waiting, but Bishop Hurst's gentle hand
and kindly smile dissipated all my fears and I felt I had found a
friend.

F. S. Beggs says :

He was greatly admired for his urbanity and gentlemanly bearing
toward the humblest preacher as well as those of greater prominence.

He was elected president of the trustees of Cornell College,
Mount Vernon, in 1881.

On August 28 he preached in the evening at First Church,
Des Moines, at the union of Fifth Street and Centenary
Churches.

His fall Conferences in 1881 were the Southern Illinois at
Greenville, Saint Louis German at Burlington, Iowa, Des
Moines at Indianola, Upper Iowa at Waterloo, Northwest
Iowa at Algona, and the Dakota Mission at Sioux Falls. His
sermon on Sunday at Greenville, one of great power and
beauty, was preached in a grove to an immense congregation.
Of his work at the Upper Iowa, J. T. Crippen says :

He seemed to know everything in history, philosophy, and current
events.

Of his dedication of the First Church in Ottawa, Iowa, in
December, 1881, C. R. Rice says:

At the close he made an extemporary prayer that will never be
forgotten. He prayed the heavens down upon the throng of people.

Near His Old Home 241

XLIV

1882. — Eleven Conferences. — East and "West. — The Accident Insurance Man

His assignments for the spring of 1882 were Wilmington

at Middletown, Delaware ; Central Pennsylvania at Lock

Haven ; his own dear Newark at Newark ; and the Wyoming

at Carbondale, Pennsylvania. Just before starting on his

eastern trip he received this friendly note from Schuyler

Colfax :

I write to say how disappointed I shall be not to meet you at Des
Moines next week. What was in my mind was to have a chat with
you. I wanted to have my memory brightened up on one of those
funny stories you told us marines on the briny deep.

Dr. Buckley, editor of The Christian Advocate, thus reports

a part of Bishop Hurst's opening remarks at the Wilmington

Conference :

Brethren, I come to the Wilmington Conference with emotions
such as I cannot feel in visiting any other Conference, and will not
attempt to describe. I was born within the bounds of the Conference :
here both my parents died, and in this Conference I was left a lonely
orphan. Brethren, I see here to-day the minister who. when I had
no thought of becoming a Christian, as I was returning from a little
debating society in the Academy in Cambridge, asked me if I did
not wish to meet my parents in heaven. I told him I did. That
man, brethren, who led me to the altar I see here to-day. I well
remember the first New Testament I ever owned. I see the minister
here to-day who gave it to me, and in all my wanderings I have
preserved that little Testament, and have it here with me in Middle-
town now.

Dr. Buckley adds :

This was eloquence, not of voice or manner, but of penetrating fact,
and it reached every heart. No wonder tears filled all eyes. I have
never heard anything equaling the simplicity and pathos of this
account of his conversion. As a brother afterward said in the cars,
"It is one of the things that grow on one the longer he thinks of it."
17

24^ John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

From Wilmington he wrote to Mrs. Hurst :

Went out after getting here to Bishop Scott's. He lives five miles
from here, on a farm. He told me about taking my mother into the
church. Says he feels differently toward me from anybody else, and
was so happy when I was elected.

March 10. — It was very affecting this afternoon that Rev. J. A.
Brindle, who received me into the church, came to talk with me
about his appointment.

Dr. Robert W. Todd writes :

In the Cabinet meetings at Middletown he showed great anxiety
to be just and kind to all concerned, advising us to confer freely
with pastors where changes were deemed necessary, so as to avoid,
if possible, the friction of disagreeable surprise, and secure loyal
acquiescence all around. His presidency was both dignified and
kindly, and his general official demeanor was that of a man dominated
by the consciousness of a Heaven-imposed responsibility. While
Bishop Hurst was a greater scholar than orator, there were times when
his fire-touched lips poured forth a message of exquisite sweetness
and wonderful power.

Before holding the Newark Conference he spent Sunday
at Elizabethport with his former congregation in Fulton Street
Church. It was a special occasion, and they raised sixteen
hundred dollars to pay all their debts. From Newark on
March 30 he writes Mrs. Hurst :

Dr. Locke, of Illinois, writes me he has sent a copy of Reynolds's
Life and Times, of Illinois. Did it get to you? If so, it is a great
find, and worth $13 — old as it looks, long out of print, and has
matter no other book has about the Suckers of Illinois.

D. B. F. Randolph writes :

The urbane and scholarly manner in which, at the Newark Con-
ference of 1882, he received the visiting East German Conference
then assembled in the same city, speaking both in German and in
English, excited universal comment and admiration on the part of
both bodies.

Note on Jane Welsh Carlyle 243

At the close of the Wyoming Conference, says Dr. J. E.
Smith :

He came to Scranton, Pennsylvania, where I was then stationed.
He was to take the midnight train for the West. As my guest for
a few hours, I hoped for a good long chat with him. But he was then
at work on his Bibliography. As soon as he entered my library he
began to examine my books. I could get nothing out of him. Flat
on the floor, he pulled down volume after volume until it was time to
start for the train. After the work of the Conference he seemed to be
as fresh as a boy.

On April 16 he preached by invitation before the Cornell
University at Ithaca, New York, and on May 7 at Garrett
Biblical Institute, Evanston, Illinois.

A jotting of his now infrequent entries in his Journal is
that of June 15, 1882:

On train, on my way to Mount Pleasant to lecture on the Revenges
of History at the College commencement. I have finished Froude's
Carlyle — first forty years. I could have voted against him for a
scullion in a nobleman's kitchen because of his treatment of his
wife. But now, after some days of ruminating, he comes up again,
and I ask : Did not Jenny Welsh know him well ? Was she not free,
and did not he say so — not to marry, even after the engagement?
What better could she have done had she married crazy Edward
Irving, whom she loved? "Had I married Irving there would have
been no tongues," she said. How do you know, dear Jennie? So
thinks always the woman who finds herself chained for life to a
brute or a donkey.

He spent two days at Berea, Ohio, during commencement
in June, preaching the baccalaureate sermon on Sunday morn-
ing, visiting the orphan asylum in the afternoon, and in the
evening giving an address in German on education. On Mon-
day he spoke to the trustees on the importance of the work
among the Germans. He always maintained a deep personal
interest in the success of the German Wallace College.

A group of seven Missions and Conferences called him to

244 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

the Pacific Coast in the summer and fall of 1882. These em-
braced Utah Mission at Salt Lake City, Montana Mission at
Bozeman, Columbia River at Baker City, Oregon, the Oregon
at Albany, Southern California at San Luis Obispo, the Cali-
fornia at Oakland, and the Nevada at Reno. Mrs. Hurst
accompanied him to California, and Carl was with him on his
trip to the Northwest. F. A. Riggin says of him in Montana :

Imagine the scholarly Bishop Hurst, unaccustomed to pioneer life,
plunging into the wilderness and amid the wilds of the Rocky Moun-
tains, traveling over the valleys and the ranges, and eating, sleeping,
and living in the most primitive style. So thoroughly was he equipped
for his work that in every detail he measured up to its requirements.
We met him accompanied by Secretary (now Bishop) Fowler at
the terminus of the railroad, and drove hundreds of miles by private
conveyance. Conference over, they visited the Yellowstone National
Park. They scaled the rugged peaks, cooked their food, slept upon
the ground, and traversed the mysterious regions of wonderland.
Bishop Hurst was the first of our Bishops to traverse these trails.
He was careful, considerate, farseeing, and wise in planning. Mon-
tana will never cease to feel the effects of his prudent administration.

W. S. Turner says :

The Columbia River Conference tested his mettle because of an
exciting debate over an unfortunate brother who was under a strong
fire through serious rumors affecting his moral character. Bishop
Hurst did himself great credit because of his manly and wise bearing
through the protracted discussion which occupied two sessions under
closed doors. Myself and a few others were threatened with vio-
lence by an outside mob, such was the excitement awakened by this
case during the session ; but Bishop Hurst under God by his wise
course averted such a catastrophe.

In selecting from the preachers of the Oregon Conference
those whom he wished to read the ritual for the ordination
of elders he fell upon Secretary Wolfe, whose voice and manner
he liked, for the gospel lesson. But the incongruity of a man
of that name reading, "the wolf catcheth them," caused the

On the Pacific Coast 245

secretary to decline, and the Bishop kindly made a change.
At the California Conference he was confronted by a state of
the public mind bordering on frenzy in the wild reign of
intemperance, Sabbath desecration, hatred of the Chinese,
sand-lot oratory, and mob violence. Dr. H. B. Heacock says :

His address at the opening session was one of rare power, which
showed the true philanthropist, the farseeing Christian statesman,
and the defender of the oppressed. I never sat in the Cabinet with
a Bishop who seemed more desirous to get all the facts in every case.

To the Independent Bishop Hurst recounts his conversation
with the accident insurance man near Los Angeles :

"Why should I insure?"

"Reason enough. You have a bandaged face. You have had a
misfortune, and may meet with another pretty soon."

"I cannot see it just as you do. Six weeks ago I had a runaway
accident up in the Yellowstone Park, and yesterday in Los Angeles
I came in contact with a piece of redwood lumber, which was either
in the wrong place or I was, and I am to be home in two weeks
more. Don't you think now, as an experienced insurance man, that
I shall get along safely the rest of the way? Haven't I had my
average, considering the time?"

He dropped into a profound meditation, and for a moment was lost
in the ecstasy of his profession. Then, looking up in a way truly
merciful and encouraging, he replied: "You are right. I think you
have run your risks." Then he released me, and I thanked him
for his solicitude. If I ever do insure against accidents, that is the
man who should, if I only knew his name, have the business.

While in attendance at the General Committee meetings in
New York he writes to Mrs. Hurst, November 9 :

How I want to get at my Church History! It is needed, and
I think I shall satisfy the public. You are a very great inspiration
in all my work. But for my encouragement from you, I could not
work as I do.

246 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

XLV

1883-64. — Thirteen Conferences in Ten States, South, Central, and East.

— Impress on Iowa

His first Conferences in the South came in the early months
of 1883. They were the Mississippi at Meridian, Louisiana
at Alexandria, Little Rock at Pine Bluff, and Arkansas at
Little Rock. From Meridian he writes to his wife on Janu-
ary 21 :

I have had a great time to-day. My first sermon to the colored
people. They shouted and cried out, and we had a good time.

On his way to Alexandria to hold the Louisiana Conference
as he passed through the little village of Plaquemine, where
there were but two or three members of our church living, one
of the number, "Sister Cheney Nelson," boarded the train
and rode a few miles with him. She pleaded so well for a
preacher to be sent to them that he appointed a pastor who
built the house of worship that bears the name of Hurst
Methodist Episcopal Church. Pierre Landry says :

Two of the young preachers, who had dropped out, one to the
overseership of a rice plantation, and the other to a government con-
tract in the mail service, sought to return on trial. Though it was
shown that they had carried on special missionary work in their
respective localities, they were met with the positive opposition of
some of our leaders. Having patiently listened to the objectors in a
special conference, the Bishop said, " Brethren, your opposition to the
readmission of these young men has disclosed to me their excellence
of character. I see in them those qualities of leadership of which,
if you live long enough, you will be proud. Give them a chance."
In both cases his prediction was fulfilled.

Of his address at the funeral of Bishop Peck in May, 1883.
the Rev. Dr. Arthur Copeland, who was present, says:

A Walk in Baraboo 247

How vividly he portrayed a scene at a camp meeting held on the
"old neck" of Maryland, where, under the light of burning pine
stumps, he first saw and heard Bishop Peck. It was a most beautiful
tribute that he paid that real Episcopos and shepherd of souls, and
in language which seemed chiseled like the marbles of the Parthenon,
both strong and ornate. The Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Central
New York, Dr. Dan Huntington, sat near me in the crowded audi-
torium, and seemed much impressed by what he saw and heard.

Seven Conferences claimed his oversight in the fall of 1883 ;

The Black Hills Mission at Rapid City, West German at Saint

Joseph, the Illinois at Danville, West Wisconsin at Baraboo.

Wisconsin at Milwaukee, Tennessee at Murfreesboro, and

Central Tennessee at Hollow Rock. At Danville he says, in

a letter to Mrs. Hurst:

September 20. — Lewis Janes thanked me for my address to the
preachers yesterday. I told them if they had any burdens or trouble
about appointment, and wished to speak with me, to come to my
lodgings and do so; if I could not help them, it would be at least
a gratification to have tried. It seems it struck fire, and they have
come.

Dr. E. L. Eaton says :

He was both lovable and approachable. A little shy about courting
the personal attention of those in official position, I was therefore
much surprised when he put his arm in mine one day at the Baraboo
Conference and proposed a walk in the grove. I had in my pocket at
that time an official request to transfer to another Conference and
take an important appointment. Naturally I had set my heart on
going. But I did not go. When that walk was ended I was willing
to go to the ends of the earth if Bishop Hurst desired it. And yet
he seemed to say little or nothing to dissuade me.

He visited the University at Madison on his way to Mil-
waukee, whence he writes Airs. Hurst:

October 2. — The library is a perfect wonder of treasures. They
seem to have searched the country and the century in order to find
the books they have. The librarian had the kindness to show me
some duplicates which he will exchange for some of mine.

248 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

While in attendance upon the Committee meetings in New
York in November he stole away and on the 15th wrote Airs.
Hurst :

On the Chesapeake, to Baltimore. — From a station on the railroad
I could see the place, I think the very house, where I was born. I
walked about the farm (Sallie's) where I used to live later, looked
at the old trees I used to climb and gather cherries from in a tin
bucket. The trees that were young and strong are now old and rotting
away. I went to the creek where I used to swim and fish — how
changed ! I came into town and Sallie with me, and we went to
the graveyard, and saw our parents' graves.

Ten days after adjournment from Murfreesboro he is in
Nashville, whence he writes Airs. Hurst:

November 27. — To-day Young [E. K.] and I went out ten miles
to Hermitage, President Jackson's home. We had a lovely ride and
saw his furniture, carriage, room he died in, grave — a splendid
old Southern mansion in ruins. We visited afterward the Fisk
University, and went upon the Capitol, and overlooked the whole
city. We called on the widow of ex-President Polk; she was too
feeble to see us, but we saw her house. No lady ever left a finer
name in the White House than she.

Hollow Rock, November 28.

I was put into a room which was pretty cold — Young and I were
together. Had a fireplace fire — four men in room above us. About
5 this a. m. two other men came into our room to warm up, and I
had to ask them to stop talking, so I could sleep more. Later they
left, and came back while I was dressing. Breakfast was in an open
hall — no fire. It is a poor hotel, kept by a dentist, whose big chair
and buzz-saw are in the room. I think I will begin dentistry on
Young.

His assignments in this country for the spring of 1884 were
two Conferences : New York East at Brooklyn, and New
Hampshire at Manchester. William T. Hill, of the former
body, says :

I recall his assiduous devotion to his task of studying how to
serve the best interests of the churches and the members of the

Impress on Iowa 249

Conference, not only the effective, but also the ineffective, and the
dignity, without assumption of superiority, with which he was wont
to preside. His sermon at that session was of such worth that the
Conference unanimously requested a copy for publication. Its subject
was ''The Gospel a Sword."

During his residence in Des Moines, at 618 Third Street,
he won the love of the people and of all workers in the cause
of righteousness. He was abundant in his labors for temper-
ance and education. His presidency and addresses at the
second Methodist State Educational Convention in June, 1881,
together with a reception to the four hundred delegates at
his house, were of signal service. W. F. Harned says :

On the night of the great temperance victory in Iowa (June 27,
1882), when the state went overwhelmingly for Prohibition, he and
I were on the streets about midnight when the first reports came in.
I remember the Bishop's remark. He said, "That is glorious."

He immediately published a congratulatory address to the
Methodist ministers of the state for their help in the campaign
and the triumph. C. W. Blodgett, who knew him intimately,
writes :

He was a busy man. His library room was a workshop often
for ten or twelve hours in a day. He was, however, never too
busy to hear the voice of the humblest of preachers. His tender heart
always responded to the appeal for help — either of sympathy or
money. He was one who never indulged in criticism of his brethren.
I saw him at one time — when a less masterful man would have com-
promised the high position he occupied. By a very prominent layman
in public the Bishop's motives were impugned and his word questioned.
The following speech the Bishop was to make. Xot in the most
remote degree did he refer to the unkind, unjust, and inconsiderate
remarks of his assailant. Nor did he ever permit himself to reply.
He did, however, excuse the brother and say he was under a pressure
that few men could endure without irritation. His life in the West
was a constant inspiration to the younger men. They were through
him profoundly impressed with the importance and necessity of
sanctified scholarship.

250 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

E. L. Schreiner writes :

While with us in the state he was in "labors more abundant,"
dedicating churches, speaking on great public occasions, and par-
ticipating in functions both within and without the church that added
new luster to the name of Methodism in the great Methodist state
of Iowa.

F. W. Vinson says :

I knew Bishop Hurst as one of the noblest, truest of men, and one
of the most faithful of friends and brave in doing what he believed
right.

Upon leaving Des Moines to go to General Conference and
thence to Europe, a magnificent reception, combined with their
silver wedding anniversary, a little anticipated, was tendered
Bishop and Mrs. Hurst in the First Church. Dr. Young
presided, Dr. Ryman prayed, Bishop Foss, present from Min-
neapolis, and Bishop Hurst spoke. At the banquet which
followed, Judge George G. Wright was toastmaster, and
Governor Sherman, Hon. C. F. Clarkson. Rev. Dr. J. B.
Stewart of the Presbyterian Church, Dr. Pomeroy of Callanan
College, Dr. Kennedy, Rev. Dr. Frisbie, Colonel Gatch, Judge
Nourse, and Bishop Hurst made fitting responses to a variety
of toasts in which flashes of wit vied with affectionate tender-
ness to make the occasion memorable and happy. A message
which greeted him shortly before he sailed for Europe was
this one from Mrs. Hurst :

Don't spend money on books — wait until you return from Europe.
You know you are easily tempted.

The Bishop Abroad 251

XLVI

1884-85. — Abroad. — Twelve Conferences in Eight Countries of Europe

and Asia

Prior to his sailing for Europe in June, the General Confer-
ence at Philadelphia claimed his service. He presided on three
days, May 8, 17, and 26. On the 226. he joined with Bishops
Simpson, Bowman, and Foss in the laying on of hands in
the consecration of Bishops Fowler and William Taylor, and
made the presentation of the Scriptures to the same. On the
26th the question having arisen in connection with the report
of the Committee on Cooperation in Church Work as to Bishop
Wiley's right, as chairman, to close the debate, Bishop Hurst
decided that he had such a right. Dr. Buckley appealed from
the decision on the ground that the rule applied solely to mem-
bers of the Conference, and the appeal was sustained. Bishop
Hurst gave as the grounds of his decision :

The Committee on Cooperation in Church Work is a creature of
the General Conference. This body appointed a member from each
General Conference District, and directed that the Board of Bishops
should designate one of their number besides, who proved to be
Bishop Wiley. All these together should constitute the Committee.
It would seem that Bishop Wiley is as much a member of the Com-
mittee as any other man on it, because he was designated by order
of the General Conference. If he were not, it would be clear that
the conclusions which the Committee reached, and this report, would
be of no legal force. To this opinion I must still adhere.

Buffalo having been designated as one of the episcopal resi-
dences, Bishop Hurst chose this city as his home for the
ensuing four years, but was a traveler abroad for more than
a year. His first episcopal tour of fourteen months in for-
eign lands covered the European Conferences, four of them
twice, and the two in India : Germany and Switzerland at
Zurich, Sweden at Upsala, Norway at Bergen, Denmark

25-' John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

Mission at Frederikshavn, Bulgaria Mission at Sistova, South
India at Hyderabad, North India at Bareilly, Italy at Bologna,
Sweden at Motala, Norway at Trondhjem, Denmark Mission
at Copenhagen, and the Germany and Switzerland at Lud-
wigsburg.

His seventh trans- Atlantic trip together with his family,
excepting John, having been accomplished and having pre-
sided as a brother over his own loved Conference in Zurich,
conducting the business and the ritual service and speaking
and preaching in German, he leaves Mrs. Hurst and the three
younger children in Berlin and starts with Carl for his Scan-
dinavian work. A pleasantly in her letter of July 9 to the
Bishop contains a true prophecy in interrogative form:

Who knows what " Mother " can do or can't do ? Mrs. Trollope
didn't begin to write until she was fifty. Younger than that is this
child. Who knows but my grandchildren will read their grand-
mother's productions with the same interest that they will the works
of their Bishop grandfather ! ! !

Of his presidency at Upsala J. M. Erikson says:

We were all delightfully surprised when he opened the Conference
by reading the Twenty-third Psalm in Swedish. The manner in
which he led the proceedings of the Conference and the interest he
showed in the welfare of all the brethren — old and young — won the
hearts of all. He was kind, yet strong and firm, sincere, and had
nothing of phariseeism or bigotry in him.

The journey from Upsala to Bergen was by Christiania, and
thence by water over the Skagerak and North Sea. Dr.
Buckley says :

The Bishop, accompanied by the resident and neighboring ministers,
took passage on a steamer for Bergen, 224 English miles, as the
vessels go, northwest. The entire membership of our churches in
Christiania accompanied them to the pier, and there remained, filling
the available space, singing hymns and spiritual songs, led by the
excellent choir, till the boat started. Hundreds of the people of the

The Social and the Revival Joined 253

city, attracted by the singing, came down to the shore and swelled
the concourse. Not only so: the brethren and sisters, to show their
affection for their pastors, brought beautiful bouquets and wreaths
of flowers in profusion to present to them. As the ship sailed the
music of their songs followed it as far as their voices could reach.
and still they could be seen waving their adieus. The vessel stopped
long enough to receive and discharge cargo at several ports, some-
times remaining some hours. Arrangements had been made by tele-
graph to hold services, and as soon as the boat landed the preachers,
accompanied by the Bishop, went to the church, where the people
were assembled, and a regular service was held. A scene similar to
that in Christiania was enacted on the departure from each place,
where the resident pastor joined his brethren on shipboard. During
the Sabbath of Conference five Methodist services were held at one
time in the city. When the last day came a supper was held in
a hall that would contain 1,200 people. A crown, equal to 27 cents of
our money, was charged for admission. Such was the crowd that
the refreshments gave out. The pastor offered to give back the
money to any who were dissatisfied. None asked its return. Supper
being ended, they began to sing and relate what God had done for
them. Bishop Hurst and others spoke to the unconverted, and, to
crown all, when the invitation was given, upward of seventy rose
for prayers.

From Bergen he writes to Helen, July 28 :

I am very glad that you and mamma and Paul and Blanche, all.
are well, and that you run out in the Thiergarten. It must be real
fun to get caught in the rain, just like rabbits, and then have to run
under a fruit-stand, and have a good excuse to buy some cherries
and strawberries.

Carl F. Eltzholtz says:

When Bishop Hurst visited our Denmark Mission he and our
superintendent, Rev. Karl Schou, were invited to tea by a prominent
Lutheran clergyman, who also was interested in the work of the
Evangelical Alliance; there was also a learned professor present
who tried to draw the Bishop out and to sound the depths of his
knowledge. He went through the ordeal in a magnificent manner :
he told them about old Bible manuscripts and other things which
they seemed to know very little about.

254 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

Bishop Hurst also preached from manuscript in Danish
in our church in Copenhagen. To Mrs. Hurst he writes from
Frederikshavn, August 3 :

Carl and I get along first-rate. We have very loving times — and
pillow fights, and our own fun.

From Consul-General James R. Weaver at Vienna he re-
ceives a message which must have given him a quiet laugh
upon his fellow traveler on many a journey, for whom he
had recently interpreted an address in Berlin and who had
just recovered from a severe illness in the first-named city:

Dr. Buckley dined with us last evening and made final adieus, to
our great regret; as for the last five or six weeks he has been an
inexhaustible source of good cheer. Last evening in the bank he
told me a story for the second time. I said, "Doctor, I am sorry you
told me that, for it is the only one you have repeated during your
stay."

A month later he holds an interview with Prince Alexander
of Bulgaria, cheers the brave little band of workers in the Mis-
sion meeting at Sistova, and is off for the Orient. Through
the mysteries and pressure of quarantine he decides to make
the trip to Constantinople over the Balkans. As was his habit,
he takes a side excursion to Bucharest at the close of the Con-
ference. His letter to Paul of October 6 from Bucharest says :

I had a busy day yesterday, as I had to preach, and was at three
services. This a. m. I got up at a quarter before 5, and had a
little cup of tea and some bread, and a carriage took me down to the
river. Mr. and Mrs. Thomoff were along. We crossed the Danube in
three quarters of an hour in a little bit of a steamboat. On reaching
the other side of the river we took another carriage, and rode
through Guirgevo to the station for Bucharest. At the station we
waited until 8:10 for the train. It took us two hours to ride to B.
Bucharest is a big city. They speak the Roumanian language, which
is really the old Latin. The people are descended from a colony
planted by Adrian, the Roman emperor, whom he placed there after
he had conquered the tribes living there, and this colony blotted out

The Balkans and Classic Troy 255

the old language, and planted the Roman instead. This learning ( ?)
is for mamma. Now comes something for you. Candy is sold along
the streets, but it is dirty-looking. I saw a boy with two doves
in a little basket, with a net over it. How he did love them ! They
were pretty doves, nearly white. You shall have some, dear Paul,
when we get to Buffalo, and Blanche shall have a cat, or a silk
dress, whichever she wants, and Helen shall have two silk dresses,
any color she likes, and mamma — well, what shall we give her? To-
night I go back to Guirgevo, and in the morning will be in Rustchuk,
and then start across the- mountains. I think this is better than by
boat and quarantine. But mamma will not hear much from me
now for a week.

The same day he writes Carl :

On Saturday I had a private audience with the Prince of Bulgaria,
Alexander I, and was fully satisfied with his assurance concerning
the future of our mission in that country. . . . To-morrow a. m. I
start by wagon across the Balkan Mountains. I do it to avoid quar-
antine. The journey will take six days. I shall be in the track of
the Russian army, and pass through places where the Bulgarian
atrocities took place.

Riding in a cart drawn by buffaloes, he makes safely the
passage of the mountain roads, passing Tirnova, Gabrova,
Shipka Pass, and Kazanlik, goes through Philippopolis and
Adrianople, and in a week is at the home of his dear friend,
Professor Albert L. Long, of Robert College in Constanti-
nople. Dr. Long tells of this visit and of their joint excursion
to the plains of Troy in an article for the Pittsburg Advocate :

Quarantine is after all not an unmitigated evil. It has recently
done very well by me. It has prevented Bishop Hurst from rushing
through this place on his way to India without giving me the visit
to which I had so long looked forward.

The two days and nights of their delightful companionship
on this classic outing furnished the theme which under Dr.
Long's polished pen grew into nearly a page of the aforesaid
paper. In it he tells of a trip in a caique up the Golden Horn

256 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

to the Convent of the Holy Sepulcher at Fanar; a look at
the manuscript of the "Teaching of the Twelve" granted by
the Archimandrite Polycarp; a call at the Home School for
girls at Scutari ; a drive to the Convent of the Howling Der-
vishes ; then on the Austrian steamer gliding out of the harbor
and down toward the Hellespont ; a night of good rest on the
Marmora ; a short halt at Gallipoli ; then on ,.0 the Dardanelles ;
the landing in a crushing crowd ; a cordial welcome and a
good breakfast from Consul Calvert; the hiring of a Jewish
guide, a Turkish muleteer and four good horses for the two
days' riding; the arrival at Hissarlik at evening; the prospect
of sleeping in the same room with a dozen armed ruffians, and
the acceptance of the hospitality of the imam's house, with
blanket and pillow on the earthen floor ; his own wakefulness,
but the Bishop's sound sleep; his fear of capture and demand
for ransom by the brigands ; the outbreak of the expected
row among the rough men at the coffeehouse, but without
harm save the nervous shock of pistol shots and loud shouts
near their window ; the early ride to the ruins of Troy, and
the sunrise while viewing the excavations made by Schliemann
and reveling in the scenes before their eyes; a ride across
the plain to the river Scamander, and the fountains of Forty
Eyes ; a halt and dinner at Bonnar Cashi ; a view of the plain
from this high point of vantage ; the return to the Dardanelles,
where they arrived at sundown ; a repast, a pleasant evening,
and a night of rest at the home of the Calverts ; and then the
parting. Dr. Long returning to his home and Bishop Hurst
taking the Russian steamer the next day, October 20, for
Alexandria. He writes Mrs. Hurst from the Dardanelles,
October 19:

We had a wonderfully interesting time. I would take no price for
this tour. It has been the dream of my life . . . and now I have seen
it at last ! We had a Homer with us, and read it. Near here is

In a Ship Carpenter's Room 257

where Leander swam across the Hellespont to Hero (and so would
I to you) ; also where Byron swam over. The house in which he
stopped is near here.

Of his few days in Egypt and his trip to Cheops, his letter
to Helen, from Cairo, October 28, will tell :

Yesterday I went to see the ruins of Memphis and also the great
Pyramid of Cheops. Two gentlemen were with me. We took cars
for fifteen miles, and each of us had a donkey, which rode on the
cars until we reached the place near Memphis. Each donkey had a
name : Flying Dutchman, Champagne Charley, and Yankee Doodle.
The first was mine. He is a stumbler, and fell sprawling with me
when in full gallop. But neither of us (donkey nor I) hurt ourselves.
We all took lunch in a hut in the desert which now covers Memphis.
Then we rode fifteen miles toward home, off one side of Cairo, to
the great Pyramid. That was a big job. But it was a bigger one
to go up it. One man lifted at one side and the other pushed. It
was a grand view when we reached the top. Then we rode twelve
miles home, and reached here just at dark. To-morrow I leave for
Suez, and next day, 30th, go on board the steamer.

To Mrs. Hurst from Suez, October 30. — I am in my new quarters.
I had a hard time getting a berth. Last night I reached Suez,
after a ride of eight hours, including an accident of two hours on
the way, in the desert, to the engine, and saw the agent before going
to bed. He said he would try to get a good room for me, but the
boat was crowded. I left land this a. m. at nine, and came out to
the steamer (Sutlej, just arrived from London) in a little steam
tugboat, with the agent, and found that there were but two vacant
berths, two people landing here. They were very poor, and two or
three people in each room. So I began to negotiate to buy out an
officer. The second mate and the doctor had sold out. The third
mate would not sell, at £8 to Bombay. So I at last bargained with
the carpenter for £6. I have drawers, writing table, and a nice
hair mattress, and a good square window, high up, and every way
nice. It is awfully dirty and greasy. My steward's name is "Light,"
and I said to him, "Now, Light, if you want to earn an extra
shilling, get your soap and water and scrub out everything, wash out
the grease, put the toilet fixings in shipshape." "I'll do it, sir,"
said Light, and he is at it with a vengeance. It is getting into good
order now. He has only a white powder that he scrubs with, and
he says, "That brings the paint and dirt both off." When he gets
18

258 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

through I shall have a beautiful room. The carpenter has taken his
things out, and I have my books in the little rack, and my things in
the drawers, and am in nice shape. I can write every day and be
entirely alone.

To Mrs. Hurst, November 12. — I am in Bombay at last. Arrived
two days ago, Monday, at four p. m., and went ashore in captain's
launch. Presiding Elder Fox met me on the dock, and took me,
bag and baggage, to a home in the second, or as we would say third,
story of a building, the first floor of which is used as a cotton ware-
house. The family is called F , Eurasians, children of English

father and native mother. It is a large family, children in abundance.
My room is in the rear part of the great dining room, and shut off
from the rest by boards only a little higher than my head. All the
racket of the family went on about me — piano, and rattle of kitchen
things. Early in the morning, say at five, rattle again, perpetual
agony of noises, and then at last breakfast. I was in agony all the
time, slept but little, good old lady coughing all night. Dined out
at Missionary Hard's last night, and after dinner an elderly lady,
widow, called to take me along the sea, the great drive, the " Queen's
Road." She finally asked me if I was comfortable. I told her at last
how things were. She immediately said, " You ought to go to a
hotel. You can't stand it." " Well," said I, " I'll try it another
night." She replied, " You ought to go now." After getting back
again I went upstairs, and about eight went to bed. Rattle to bang !
Rolled and pitched ! Clatter, clatter ! Got up, packed every rag I
had, and went out — about nine p. M. " Where is Mr. F , chil-
dren ? " " Gone to church !" " Mrs. F. ? " " Gone to church ! "

" Well, tell your parents I am nervous and have lost sleep, and have
gone to Watson's Hotel." Children amazed ! Grandmother, poor
soul, who did the coughing, amazed. I called a " vici " (carriage),
put in my " yaller bag," and was off in a jiffy. Bang at my door
now — two missionaries ! They say Cleveland is elected. Bang again !

Coolie has come for the wash. Now back to F 's. Sent for rest

of my baggage, with beautiful note, if I do say it myself, explaining.
Beautiful note in reply from Mrs. F . All serene. It was provi-
dential— that ride with the old English lady, who gave me good
advice, and. if I meet her again, I shall thank her.

J. A. Northrup, secretary of the South India Conference,
writes :

We were deeply impressed with the beautiful spirit of fraternity

Reading Ritual in Hindustani 259

and brotherly kindness which he manifested constantly toward all
the members of our Conference, both American and native. The
idea of his superiority never seemed to enter his noble mind and
heart. He treated us all as brethren beloved with such perfect ease
and naturalness that we saw in him a striking exemplification of our
Saviour's humility. No evening meeting or Sunday service during
that session of the Conference ever closed without an earnest appeal
from the Bishop to the unconverted to turn to Christ. Even the
ordination services were crowned with seekers of salvation responding
to his loving invitation. Bishop Hurst, without the aid of an inter-
preter, conducted the ordination of the native candidates in the
Hindustani language, reading the ritual himself from a Roman Urdu
copy with such correctness that his native auditors perfectly under-
stood the reading. The marvel was that such a stranger to the
language could so well prepare himself for that feat in only a few
hours of study and practice.

Between the sessions of the South and North India Con-
ferences he spends Christmas at Cawnpore, then on to Luck-
now for a few days, then to Shahjehanpore and Bareilly. Rev.
(now Bishop) J. E. Robinson writes:

How glad I was to see the dear man, whom I found as approach-
able and affable as ever ! Elevation to the episcopacy had not spoiled
him in the least.

After adjournment at Bareilly he held the Central Confer-
ence— the joint delegated body of the North and South India.
Then he visited the Punjab in company with Dennis Osborne
and Professor Frank W. Foote, of Cawnpore, taking in Lahore
and Agra. Next in order was a trip over the district of the
Central Provinces, 800 miles long, with the presiding elder,
Clark P. Hard, who writes of the affection of his people for
the Bishop, and quotes from a letter written by one of these.
"O, how we love him!" To Mrs. Hurst he writes on train
to Lahore:

January 17, 1885. — Everything is going on in the same old way —
banging about on cars, in wagons, and every way. I have been well

260 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

ever since I have been here, except a few days' overwork in Calcutta.
But I soon got over it. I was at five services, preaching twice and
speaking besides three times. But I am now all right again, and hope
to have no farther trouble. I am sure this Indian trip will be a great
advantage to me — the perpetual sun-bath is splendid. The nights
are now cold. I have to take all my bedding with me. Cars furnish
nothing except the water. You find everything yourself — every stitch
of towels and bedding. But the parcels ! Think of what a roll one
has to travel with ! My bedding is as big as a barrel !

How he filled the interstices of this network of travel from
the time he landed at Bombay early in November, 1884, to
his departure in early February, 1885. he tells in that inform-
ing book, Indika, the fruit of his journey and after-reflections.
A slow trip on the Siam up the Arabian and Red Seas in
February and a short excursion to review a few points in
Palestine in early March bring him to Syria. March 9 he is
at Beirut, where he pens these lines to Mrs. Hurst :

We went to Damascus last Tuesday, the 3d, 60 miles, by diligence
in one night. Stayed two days and went to the ruins of Baalbec.
This whole journeying is a splendid experience, everything helping
me in my Church History. Martin met me on my return. Dr. Bliss
made me promise to come to his house — splendid home — on a prom-
ontory overlooking the sea. I sail to-night for Smyrna, and shall be
there a week, in the region of Ephesus, and Seven Churches of Asia.
I preached here yesterday — read every word.

The meeting with Dr. Bliss is thus described by Professor
W. W. Martin, then teaching in the college with Dr. Bliss :

This veteran missionary of the Presbyterian Church and the real
builder of that noble college was immediately won by Bishop Hurst's
simple and pleasant manner. The two talked together as if old-time
friends. The Druse massacre in the Lebanon, the strange complex
of the Mohammedan, making him possessor of the noblest faith in
one God, yet blighted in all the best traits of our common humanity
through a false and narrow civil code, and all that varied life of the
Orient, as it was lived under the shadows of Lebanon, were grouped
in the panorama of their mutual conversation. As we returned to

Conferences in Europe 261

the college Dr. Bliss remarked upon the fullness of the information
possessed by Bishop Hurst, and said, " One would have thought that
the good Bishop had lived among us and had shared our experiences.
Your Bishop is a great man."

His letters give us hints of his routes of travel and his
anxiety for little Blanche in her illness during the summer
of 1885. after he again struck European soil. To Rev. J. M.
Erikson, Stockholm, from Naples, April 13:

I am delighted to hear of the revivals in various parts of Sweden.
I sympathize deeply with you in the loss of your child. I know
just what that great sorrow is. The Lord comfort and bless you
and your wife in your hours of trial !

To Mrs. Hurst from Copenhagen, May 18. — I have an article in
the Pittsburg Advocate — Mediterranean Log Book — like the others
you have seen. I leave here to-day for Motala.

Motala, May 25. — I have just finished an article of 33 pages this
size (note), for Chautauquan, on Athens.

Stockholm, May 29. — Gothland has a wonderful history : used to be
a Hanse island, and its chief city, Wisby, was very wealthy, like
Liibeck and Hamburg. Now it is a city of ruins, and the new town
is coming up again. I intend to make a Harper article on it, and
have the photos for it.

Goteborg, June 5. — Should anything happen to Blanche telegraph
me immediately at one of those Conferences as named in the letter.
I could meet the Cabinet and fix appointments and appoint a President
and leave. How I wish I could carry the dear sweet child up and
down stairs !

Christiania, June 8. — Perhaps the Lord means to test our faith, and
will save dear Blanche, and so make us better Christians.

On train coming from Norway Conference, June 15. — Yesterday
was a great day at Conference (Trondhjem). In the afternoon
we had a real revival service in the large Industrial Hall — said to be
the largest hall in Norway. About 100 came to the altar, and there
were about 20 conversions.

Copenhagen, June 20. — I hope to preach a Danish sermon to-
morrow.

Chemnitz, Germany, July 1. — I reached here this a. m. at 8, from
Conference. Our church in Saxony has always been troubled with
imprisonments and arrests, and, as I had some success with the

262 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

Prince in Bulgaria, and, I think, in Denmark, I made up my mind
to make a trial. I heard that the Mayor of this city was friendly
to us; and he is also a member of the Saxon Parliament. So, on
my way to Dresden, I got out at Chemnitz, and have had a delightful
visit with him. He is on very close terms with the Minister of
Public Worship, and intimate with the King. He gave me very
important information, and directions as to what to do. I am to
go to Dresden, call on the Minister, and present our request, and
then, when Parliament meets in the fall, present a formal application
by letter to this gentleman, and he will send it on its course. Nothing
may come, but if our preachers can be saved from arrest it will be
a great end gained.

Dresden, July 2. — Last night, at 10, I got the permission of the
Minister of Public Worship for an interview to-day at 12. I had
telegraphed here from Ludwigsburg to know if he was at home, and
the answer was " No." But he was, and I came on the venture.
I also saw the U. S. Consul, who is greatly interested. He is going
to help get things in shape. He advises me to go to Berlin and see
Pendleton, the new U. S. Minister.

Berlin, July 4. — I reached here last night from Dresden, and went
to see Mr. Pendleton. He became greatly interested in our matters,
gave me coi.siderable help, and told me to depend upon him. The
Consul in Dresden has taken the matter up with great vigor. Think
of their arresting our preachers, and not allowing our preachers to
read the service over a dead child in a graveyard, and trying to
stop our services ! I think there is an end of this, and that the
United States government will have something to say.

Having- spent ten days in Frankfort and Kaiserslautern for
a little rest, he joins his family in Paris. Soon they cross the
Channel, and he spends the most of August in travel to differ-
ent points. They attended the funeral service of General Grant
in Westminster Abbey, then he hurried away to Newcastle to
attend the Weslevan Conference, where he made an address
August 6, "one of the most deeply interesting of the entire
Conference — has never been excelled by any speaker to the
Conference from the other side of the Atlantic," says the
correspondent of the Daily Chronicle ; the next day to Ep-
worth, where he was welcomed by the rector, Dr. Overton, and

Why Not in Singapore? 263

saw all the relics of the Wesleys ; joined his family again in
London; dined with his family at Sir William McArthur's,
the ex-Lord Mayor; attended City Road Chapel; reveled a
few hours in the antiquarian collection of George John Steven-
son; then away to Oxford, to Warwick and Kenilworth
Castles, and Stratford-on-Avon ; then on to Edinburgh and
other points in Scotland, whence he retraces his steps in time
to get the steamer of August 27 from Liverpool to New York.

XLVII

A Bold Stretch of Faith and Authority

The story of the founding of Singapore Mission, the great-
est stroke of his entire foreign tour, is thus told by the Bishop
himself in a letter (1891) to Secretary (now Bishop) McCabe:

In the autumn of 1884 I took a miserable Russian steamer at
Dardanelles, Asia Minor, for Alexandria. It was called The Tsar,
and was used for carrying horses. I had just finished my tour to
Troy, and had to pay the penalty for the privilege of visiting the scene
of the Iliad by a three days' sail in that wretched boat across the
eastern end of the Mediterranean. There were but two passengers
besides myself. I wondered there was anyone. One was a German
connected with the German consular service at Cairo. The other
was a young German on his way to Singapore. I conversed much
with this latter young man. He described Singapore as I had never
heard it described before — a meeting place of languages, nations,
faiths, and a stopping point for vessels in the Oriental trade of many
nations. The thought occurred to me, " Have we ever had a Meth-
odist missionary there?" Then it appeared .to me that we never
had, but that from South India it would be most convenient to
send one.

On reaching Bombay, I think it was the first question I asked
Dr. (now Bishop) Thoburn: "Why don't we have a missionary in
Singapore? "

" Can't send one," he answered ; " we have no man and no money."

264 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

" Let's send one when our Conference meets in a fortnight in
Hyderabad," I replied.

aw he wanted it badly, but how to find the man was the question.
When tlu- appointments of the South India Conference were read
off, I announced: "Singapore, W. F. Oldham."

Wlio and where was Oldham? He was on his way to India to
take charge of our press at Rangoon, in Burma. Dr. Thoburn met
him and told him where he had been appointed. Imagine his surprise
i.i " he on his way to Burma," and to be "shot off one thousand five
hundred miles beyond India"! But Dr. Thoburn told him he would
go witli him and see what could be done.

Now, not a dollar was appropriated for Oldham, or for a school,
or for any beginning. It was a matter of faith and works only.
During the winter Dr. Thoburn and Brother Oldham went to Singa-
pore, began meetings, received a gift for a school from a Chinaman,
and organized a little society. From that hour to this the Mission
has grown. It is as fully a child of Providence as any work our
church has undertaken.

The General Missionary Committee, in November, 1887, refused
to make of Singapore a Mission, but after a long and earnest debate
referred the whole subject to the approaching General Conference.

What did the General Conference do? It not only established the
Mission, hut elected that same Dr. James M. Thoburn Bishop of
India and Malaysia. Singapore was thus made not only a part of
Bishop Thoburn's official territory, but, under the name of Malaysia,
was made the point of central work and departure for the thirty
Malaysian millions.

To this appointment of Dr. (now Bishop) Oldham Bishop
MeCabe made eloquent reference at Bishop Hurst's funeral
in 1003 :

Bishop Hurst seemed to have a sort of inspiration in opening new

work. When he went to hold the Conferences in India he learned

upon the steamer before reaching Alexandria, from a perfect stranger

who showed him a map of Malaysia, of the commercial importance

>iii£apore. He immediately resolved to occupy it. Even in his

dreams Bishop Hurst saw a kingdom of God coextensive with all

the earth. There was a young man coming from the United States

take charge of our work in Rangoon. His name was W. F.

Bishop Hurst immediately determined to send Oldham

Oldham in Singapore 265

to Singapore, and when the young man arrived at Calcutta, where
he thought his journey was ended, Dr. Thoburn told him that his
appointment was 1,500 miles farther on. Brother Oldham obeyed
promptly, and went to Singapore and planted that Mission, which
is now one of the most successful in all Methodism. It has connected
with it a self-supporting boys' school, and the latest statistics show
that that school has in it twenty-three instructors and 705 (later
1,000) scholars, and is a center of religious and intellectual power
for all that country and for Siam and Borneo. The Bishop created
that Mission with the stroke of his pen.

There is one incident connected with this school that used to make
tears rush down Bishop Hurst's cheeks.

Brother Oldham needed a helper, and we sent C. A. Gray there,
from Zanesville, Ohio. As Brother Oldham saw him get off the
steamer, and looked upon his stalwart form and noted his quick step,
he said, " That is the very man for me." Mr. Gray took charge of
the school, and in ten weeks he was taken ill. As a surprise to
himself, and a great surprise to his friends, he was told by his physi-
cian that he must die. He thought about it a little, and then gravi-
tation shifting turned the other way, and he wanted to go home to
his Father, young and strong as he was. He said to Brother Oldham:
" Call in the boys," and they came in — forty boys, from Malaysia
and Siam. " Boys," he said, " I have sent for you to let you see
how a Christian can die. I want you to pass by and let me grasp
each of you by the hand." And while those boys were going by him
he began to sing, all alone:

" Down at the cross where my Saviour died,
Down where for cleansing from sin I cried,
There to my heart was the blood applied,
Glory to his name ! "

Nobody could sing but the dying man. When the vacation came
Brother Oldham went up into Java to get some new students, and
he took dinner at the house of an old man. At the table one of his
boys was sitting. The lad, who was the oldest son of the host, told
the story of how the man sang when he was dying. Greatly agitated,
the boy's grandfather took Brother Oldham by the coat, and said to
him in the presence of the assembled company : " Do you see that
boy? That is my grandson. He is the light of these old eyes. Take
him and fill him full of that religion that makes a man sing when
he dies."

266 l"M\ Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

The fame of that wonderful song went all over that country. If
Bishop Hurst could have known what was to happen, if he could
have known about the Spanish war and its results, he could not
have done a wiser thing than to plant that Mission at Singapore.
That filled up the gap. That made a chain of Methodist missions
clear around this globe. Now you can sail around the earth and not
be very far at any time from a Methodist mission, and it was the
farsighted wisdom of Bishop Hurst that did that.

In a letter from Madras to The Christian Advocate of
March 5, 1885, Bishop Hurst says:

Fifty years ago, when Bishop Emory stood before the British Wes-
leyan Conference with a flush of prophecy upon him, he exhorted
its ministers to go East, while the young American daughter would
go West, and the two would grasp hands somewhere in the Pacific
Ocean. Little he thought the time would come when the daughter
herself would send one force East and another West, and that the two
would meet, in the Malay world, at the equator. Yet that is what she
does. The Methodism of China and that of India have met, and
now look each other in the face. The westernmost missionary in
China can drop down the coast, while the Singapore pastor can go
up to meet him : and together they can sing doxologies over the fact
that the church which has sent them out from its warm heart has
put its zone around the earth.

Bishop Oldham writes:

Bishop Hurst did me the high honor to appoint me to the opening
of our Mission in Singapore, though he knew there was no missionary
apportionment to sustain the enterprise. His quiet confidence in my
ability to meet the strange situation was one of my chief assets, for it
would have required more courage to disappoint such cheerful confi-
dent than to achieve success in the face of almost any difficulty.
W hen, after a few months, I was greatly beset with the unexpected
emergencies with which neither experience nor resource gave me much
fitting to cope, I was again greatly helped by kind personal letters,
which were better for me at that time than any missionary subsidy
: could have come. I found him ever after eagerly interested
the affairs of that Mission, and so urbane and considerate in
treatment of me personally that it was to me always a matter for
ratulation to be thrown into his company.

" And Malaysia " 267

To have a man of his massive attainments so continually at work
with the details of the church has always impressed me with the feel-
ing for the necessity of us smaller men to be untiring in our own
efforts.

On the steamer Siam when fairly out of sight of India on
the Arabian Sea and he had turned his face toward his family,
who were spending the winter in Paris, he wrote again on
February 10 to the Advocate of April 30:

If from all the lands where our people are now singing their
Centennial psalms our church were suddenly blotted out, there is
aggressive force enough in India Methodism alone to sail to all the
continents and islands and plant it over again. I have no regrets
at the appointment of Dr. Thoburn as Conference evangelist. It
means an evangelist for all India. He is just now in Singapore, away
down on the equator, and within sight of China. Dr. Thoburn and
the new pastor for Singapore, the Rev. W. F. Oldham, went down
together to organize our church there. All honor to Allegheny
College for sending out the first man for the Malay millions, and
to complete the connection between India and China ! Think of the
joy which the heroic Bishop Wiley would have had had he been
a witness to the arrival of these men there ! But who knows how
much he did see? The map of his sublime faith was very broad.

When in 1888, on the day of Dr. Thoburn's election as Mis-
sionary Bishop, the presiding Bishop announced that fact,
and used the words "for India," Bishop Hurst instantly rose,
walked rapidly to the chairman, and told him to give the full
title — "for India and Malaysia." The correction was made,
and when, a few months later, an attempt was made to close
the Malaysia Mission, a reference to the General Conference
action sufficed to end the controversy. How fitting was the
election of Dr. Oldham by the General Conference of 1904
as Missionary Bishop and his assignment to Southeastern Asia
with headquarters at Singapore!

John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography
XLVIII

1&56-57. — At Buffalo. — Blanche's Death. — Fifteen Conferences in Eight
States, East, Central, and South

The arrival of Bishop Hurst and his family in America
in September was soon followed by a most hearty and suc-
cessful public reception at Buffalo in the auditorium and par-
if the Delaware Avenue Church. Presiding Elder Albert
X. Fisher presided. Dr. W. S. Studley, of Lockport, offered
prayer, Dr. John B. Wentworth spoke in behalf of the min-
isters, and Mr. F. H. Root spoke for the laity. Greetings were
read also from the preachers and laymen of Rochester. The
church was thronged with people not only from the city, but
from many of the adjoining towns in Western New York.
Bishop Hurst replied informally but heartily to these various
kindly expressions of regard, thanking all for the pleasing
warmth of his reception. He felt for the first time that he
lived here, though he had lately been giving his residence
as Buffalo.

He rounds out 1885 with three Conferences: Genesee at
Lima. Xew York (his new home Conference), the Holston
at Johnson City, Tennessee, and the East Tennessee at Knox-
ville. A line jotted down by the wrriter at Lima on October
1 was: "Bishop Hurst presides easily." At the Educational
Anniversary in College Hall (of old Genesee College) he spoke
and neatly opened the way for a generous subscription in
behalf of the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary. On Sunday
besides preaching he spoke with his usual effectiveness at
two missionary anniversaries. On his way to Tennessee he
takes in a brief visit to Cambridge, Maryland, where he revives
y memories :

To Mrs. Hurst. October 11:

The pastor met me at the boat, and invited me to preach, which

U/lfriA cyw?

FACSIMILE OF FOUR LINES OF BISHOP HUKSl's WRITING

IN PENCIL ON PAGE 23 OF A SMALL MEMORANDUM

BOOK OF 58 PAGES, ALL OTHERS BEING BLANK.

Death of Blanche 269

I did. The church is greatly improved, and is handsome. A fine
congregation present. Leader of the choir was an old schoolmate;
another sat in the front seat ; another, when I was only nine years
old, and attended school in the woods, was present. We had fought
many a time. One fine-looking but very aged lady told me this :
She nursed me when I was sick and in infancy. One night I was
supposed to be dead, and gave no sign of life. My father and mother
thought I was dead, took leave of me, and went upstairs. About
midnight I roused up, and called for water. My father and mother
came rushing downstairs. The old lady said, " I reckon you never
saw a prouder set in your life." To make the story more remarkable.
her mother nursed my mother in her final illness.

October 12. — I saw the old house where I used to leave my horse
when I first rode '* into town " to school.

On his way from the Holston to the East Tennessee he
writes to Paul :

Morristown, October 20. — Three Presidents were from Tennessee
— Jackson, Polk, and Johnson. Johnson was a tailor, from Green-
ville, and his sign is still over the little shop where he used to sit
cross-legged, and sew clothes.

Returning from Philadelphia, he finishes settling in the new
home at the recently purchased episcopal residence, 455 Frank-
lin Street, preaches to the Germans of Mortimer Street Church
in his facile and happy use of their language, and addresses the
District Conference, November 24, on the New South. Here,
just as the family were rejoicing to find the quiet harbor
after eighteen months of travel and broken plans, a new, yet
not unknown, and sore sorrow broke upon his home and heart
in the sudden illness and death of the sweet and loving Blanche
from diphtheria. For ten days they battled bravely and pa-
tiently, and, from the nature of the disease, well-nigh alone.
On December 7 her gentle spirit took its flight to the bosom
of her Saviour, leaving her father and mother, twice-stricken,
with empty arms. After a very private funeral on the 10th.
conducted by Drs. Iglehart, J. E. Smith, and Fisher, her

John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

precious dust was deposited in beautiful Forest Lawn. While
bowing in humble and hopeful resignation both Bishop and
.Mrs. Hurst felt most keenly the loss of the child who even
beyond her years took a knowing interest in the affairs of the
home, and by her natural trend to domesticity had become.
though "iily in her twelfth year, in no small measure the
helpful adviser and close companion of her mother. Mrs.
Hurst never fully recovered her buoyancy of spirit, and there-
after her interest in the labors, cares, and joys of life with her
loved ones and numerous friends on earth seemed divided
with a longing for the coming joys of reunion with those
gone before. Of his own sorrows Bishop Hurst once wrote:

The most unpleasant element in the most of my severe disciplines
i> that each stands largely alone, and there cannot, in most instances,

iie an opportunity when the special wisdom learned from the dark
experience can ever be applied again.

Xot thus was it in this repeated sorrow- of a lovely daughter
taken from his side. For he wrote again:

What are our griefs but wishes? Every tear of sorrow is the
language to a desire that the case were otherwise. Folly indescribable !
If my two daughters were living within a block of me in all joy and
comfort, every hour a song and every year a chain of delights,
c-ould T wish them to come into my cold and dreary hut. where the
le is scanty and the language that of toil and pain? No, not for
a moment. My happiness would be to know their happiness. Neither
rnn I wish them back upon the earth. Their mansions are the homes
inscrutable — fair, suited to their taste, prepared for them by the
Hand which never makes an unloving stroke.

ing under engagement to speak at a mass meeting in
Xew York in the interests of the effort to raise a million dollars
i year for missions, he sought release in this note of mingled
ef and faith to Secretary McCabe:

December T4. — The great sorrow which has fallen upon my home
will prevent my participating in the missionary meeting at the Acad-

Missionary Address in New York 271

emv of Music on the evening of the 17th. I had made all my prepara-
tions, but if I were with you I could not, with my present terrible
burden, do justice to you, or the occasion, or myself. My bleeding
heart would be more in the immediate past, I fear, than in the future.
My duty, just now, is with my stricken family. Having seen our
work in Europe and India the last, I should have been glad to give
what picture I could of our great field. I sympathize fully with the
effort for the million. It is as certain as the rising sun. No better
or more sure battle cry has been heard upon our front line.

But in response to repeated and urgent invitations he finally
consented to go to this sixty-fifth anniversary of the Mis-
sionary Society and, smothering his sorrow as best he could,
took his part in the prepared programme. Bishop Harris
presided, Dr. William Butler offered prayer, Dr. John M.
Reid, General Clinton B. Fisk, and Dr. James M. Buckley
all spoke in characteristic vein. Dr. O. H. Warren says :

All the addresses were interesting and impressive, while that of
Bishop Hurst is especially commended, not only for its character,
but its adaptation to the needs of the hour.

With what vivid and heart-capturing pictures did he show
the obligation to missionary effort growing out of interna-
tional kinship ! Here is one :

If any should say that there is no parental bond uniting us with
India, it may be replied that long before the civilization of Greece
and Rome, or even before Pelasgic times, the Teutonic family was
on the high table-lands of Asia. When William Butler was in India
he was an Aryan boy carrying the gospel to the old home. If Paul
could say, " I am debtor to the Jew and the Greek," much more may
the American say he is debtor to each of the lands whence his
national life is drawn. We are only visiting our Aryan relatives there.

The writer was at this time pastor of the Colden. Boston,
and West Falls Circuit on Buffalo District. Bishop Hurst
spent a part of March 6, 7, and 8, 1886, with him. preaching
and conducting the communion service at Boston on Sunday

John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

morning in the Baptist church, which was opened for us, to
accommodate the large congregation, more than filling the
modest Methodist church. The Baptist brethren were present
and communed with us — in spirit — in their own house of
worship, really in the Lord's house. In the evening he gave
an inspiring address on missions in the Colden church. This
service he rendered to the hard-worked presiding elder, A. N.
Fisher, in lieu of the same promised three months before just
at the time of dear Blanche's fatal illness. It lingers a pleasant
memory of the people.

His official duties called him in the spring of 1886 to the
presidency of the New Jersey Conference at Bridgeton (at
the close of which he visited his sister in her final illness and
was with her at her death, on March 18, at Cambridge), the
East German and the Xew York both in New York, and the
Vermont at Chelsea. The session of the New York Con-
ference was one to test his powers, his patience, and his judg-
ment to the utmost. Three trials of preachers were a part
of the severe ordeal. Dr. A. K. Sanford writes:

By the skill and prudence which characterized his presidency he
carried the Conference wisely and safely through the storm.

While attending the semiannual meeting of the Bishops in
Minneapolis, in May. 1886, he dedicated the Central German
Church. G. E. Hiller. their pastor, says:

< )n Sunday morning he arrived very early before the opening of
our Sunday school, which took place at nine o'clock. He first went
to the Norwegian Sunday school, two blocks away, and made an
address in Norwegian, then he went to our Thirteenth Avenue Church
( one block away) and spoke in English, and at 10:30 he preached the

licatory sermon of our church, in German. He spoke with remark-
able correctness and fluency.

While traveling through Ohio he writes on train, Monday,

July 26, to Mrs. I Turst:

Our " Methodist Melanchthon ' -73

Saturday evening went to a lecture in Mount Union College, by
Mr. McKinley, Congressman, on Civil Service.

Ocean Grove was among the places he visited in x\ugust,
and his sermon there on the 18th, on "Christ the Liberator,"
made a profound impression. The reporter for the Philadel-
phia Inquirer says :

For correctness and beauty of style, for scientific accuracy in
delineation and argument, for adherence to the rules of rhetorical
address, for elegance of diction and classical taste, for close observ-
ance of the principles of scriptural exegesis, the sermon evoked great
attention, and was closed with a most fervent appeal to the people
to accept Christ as their liberator from the bondage of sin.

His fall Conferences, 1886, called him to the Detroit at
Adrian, the Michigan at Kalamazoo, then, after the General
Committees, during which he took time to make the dedicatory
address of the New Hall of Theology at Boston University
on November 10, his theme being the "Theology of the Twen-
tieth Century," away to the Texas group: Austin at Dallas,
Southern German at Perry, Texas at Huntsville, and the West
Texas at Victoria. Of his address at Boston, when Professor
Buell introduced him as our "Methodist Melanchthon," Dr.
Louis A. Banks says :

The ninety minutes sped by as if they were oiled. Every listener
felt the inspiration to do grander work for Christ.

Having finished his work in Texas, he goes to inspect the

work and preside over the Conference in Mexico, held at

Puebla, in January, 1887. The importance of his Mexican

tour justifies a separate treatment under another caption. His

return from Mexico was early enough to permit him to preside

in the spring at the North Indiana Conference at Marion,

and the Delaware at Chestertown, Maryland, and to assist

Bishop Harris at Troy Conference by presiding and preaching
19

274 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

for him. He spent a few days at home in June, during which
he writes on the 28th to Mrs. Hurst in Philadelphia:

Mail small; no calls. Flowers all watered — pigeons happy — plenty
of light in windows — no flies — plenty to eat — Osborn here — clocks
wound up — busy all the time.

He served in 1887 with Dr. J. M. Buckley and General
Clinton B. Fisk as a committee of correspondence with the
pastor of City Road, Wesley Chapel, London, on the design
fi »r the memorial window to Bishop Simpson. In a letter of
August 4 to C. C. McCabe he said :

The saloon will be as complete an antiquity as a slave block or
the fuming laboratory of a mediaeval adept in the Black Art.

His service as a member of the Board of Education of the
Methodist Episcopal Church began in December, 1886, when
he was chosen to fill the vacancy caused by Bishop Harris's
death, and continued to his life's end.

XLIX

Official Tour in Mexico

After completing at Victoria his presidency of the four
nferences in Texas, and having been joined by Mrs. Hurst.
Helen, and Paul, he traveled easily and reached Mexico city
on New Year's morning. 1887. For the first time in its his-
tory the annual session of the Conference was held outside
of the capital, this year at Puebla. in the school building of
the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society. He devoted about
two months to visiting the more important places — nearly two
weeks before and about six weeks after the five days at Puebla.
Besides several days of inspection, preaching, and reconnoiter-

On the Mountains of Mexico 275

ing in the city of Mexico, he made an excursion to several
places in the state of Hidalgo. Of the ride from Pachuca
to El Chico he says :

One after another the horses came in from the street and sauntered
about the patio. Once on the upper hills, the great valley stretches
out about us. We are climbing up the mountains beyond Pachuca,
which is 8,150 feet above the level of the gulf. Here are mines,
and mines and mines again — no less than 150 in this neighborhood in
activity. One mine out of twenty-five pays expenses. The rest are
successful only in raising expectations. The conclusion is, " Keep
out of them all."

But our horses have struck the cobble stones of the old town of
El Chico. Dr. Rule, an English gentleman, has presented to our
church a new edifice, which cost eighteen hundred dollars, and I am
to dedicate it to-night. He comes out to bid us welcome and stands
at the gateway of his hacienda. Our horses file into his large court
and are evidently glad to get rid of their riders. Faithful they have
been, for not one has fallen with his rider. The four hours have
been a short bit of Mexican enchantment. On our return from El
Chico to Pachuca we made a side excursion bv wagron from Velasco
to Regla Hacienda and back by way of the famous mines of Real
del Monte.

Dr. S. P. Craver says of his supervision of the Conference
at Puebla :

The routine business was dispatched with rapidity, the Bishop
having acquired such acquaintance with the Spanish language that
he understood a large part of the discussions and motions without
interpreting. The Mexican brethren were surprised and pleased to
hear him read the Scripture and the prayer of consecration in the
celebration of the Lord's Supper in their own language. Some of
the brethren were surprised to find what a grasp he had upon the
situation, the conditions and needs of the work, and of special phases
of it, since he appeared to have given little or no attention to those
aspects of it when he had been spoken to about them. He would
go out for a walk with some brother who desired to lay before him a
case, and would listen with apparently little concern, but would be
sure to find his way to some old bookstall and pick up some odd
volume which seemed to attract his attention more than the particular
subject-matter in hand. But the next day he would ask a question

j-,, John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

that showed he had not lost a word of what had been told him, and
that he had pondered the whole case carefully. He showed great
interest in any literary work the missionaries might be doing, and
stimulated them to make good use of the pen, laying special stress
upon the broader influence they could thereby wield.

Alter the Conference was over he made a trip to the work in

( )rizaba and Cordova on the Vera Crnz Railway, and another

«m horseback into the mountain region of Puebla. At Xochia-

pulco he dedicated another new church. Of this trip and

•.cation he says:

My riding, of some weeks before, to the Regla Hacienda had been
on a Mexican saddle, and I never want anything better, for a fixed
condition. You get twisted, and braced, and curved, and involved,
and then packed far down into your rawhide compress, and after
three or four hours the thing becomes a part of you, and then it is
ier to stay there the rest of the day than to get out. The machine
never turns. A girth, which makes it easier for a horse to turn
a somersault without itself moving an inch, is an outcome of a long
and combined Toltec, Aztec, and Spanish civilization. Whatever
goes wrong with one here in Mexico, he must be sure of two things
—a perfect girth for his saddle and a revolver. With one day's
exception. I have had no revolver. A trusty weapon was offered me.
witli the belt full of bristling cartridges; but the machinery would
not fit me, and I handed it back. So my whole defensive outfit has
been only a pocketknife, a bunch of keys, and a pocketful of small
money.

Range after range we crossed. Up and down and along great
barrancas lay our bridle path. Often it was a mere narrow groove,

'->ped out of precipitous mountain sides. Now and then we reached
a lofty point, where new teeth of the Sierras, or combs, came into view.
In two hours we arrived at a crest where great Orizaba, with its
beautiful hood of everlasting snow, stood before us, as if to say, " I
am more than a picture." By and by we came in sight of Xochia-
pulco, perched on a hilltop. For miles we saw the tower of our
beautiful new church, the highest object in the old Aztec town. Flags,
rinp the Mexican colors of red, white, and green, fluttered from
both the outer and inner walls of the church. The floor was covered
with a carpet of pine spires, gathered from the surrounding groves.
The aroma from them was sweeter than any incense which ever

Embraced by Indians 277

arose from a silver censer in silvery Mexico. The town bell rang
out glad peals, which reverberated along the mountain sides and down
the far-reaching barrancas.

The people were Indians, descendants of the very Aztecs whom
Cortez found here three centuries and a half ago, and whose off-
spring has occupied these mountains ever since. The old Aztec
tongue, which in literature is commonly called here Lengua Mejicana,
is the language of the home and of business. Many understand
Spanish, but the most do not, and all prefer to use the dear old
speech of Montezuma's day, when no Cortez had caught sight of the
sandy dunes where Vera Cruz now stands.

My address was interpreted from English into Spanish by the
Rev. Dr. Greenman. But how could we get the Spanish into Aztec?
We had taken with us from Tetela the Rev. Mr. Aguilar, who is part
Aztec himself, and knows the language; but he knows no English,
though a good Spanish scholar. He, therefore, translated the Spanish
interpretation into Aztec, and so the audience had in their own
language all that was said. It was a strange scene — three men stand-
ing on a platform, and filtering a dedicatory address from English
into Aztec ! There were mothers in the audience, having their small
children with them. Some of these little bronze creatures had been
brought for baptism, but were impatient; and it was the strongest
piece of public competition on which I ever entered when I endeav-
ored to raise my voice to a key higher than the combined voices of
twenty juvenile Aztecs. The dedicatory address lasted just thirty
minutes ; that is, ten minutes each for the three languages. I baptized
ten of the children.

After the close of the services I was informed that it was now
in order to receive the salutations of the audience. Ignorance was
my misfortune. An Aztec salutation is a most absorbing and con-
suming process, but a high art. The chief men of Xochiapulco came
up first, each one embracing me, letting the hands meet, and patting
me on the back. Of course, it was my duty to do the same thing.
After the embrace, there came a grasp of hands. My inexperience
made me a little awkward at first, but by the time I reached the fifth
or sixth Indian the process became easier. But when I had gone
through about fifteen such embraces, and the audience moving for-
ward seemed about as large as at the beginning, I saw only utter
defeat in view, and finally escaped by getting out of the church,
leaving my two companions to make amends for my want of farther
decorum.

As the sun gilded the hills stretching far out from Xochiapulco,

j-X I mi in Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

we took a walk to the old graveyard of the place. On returning to our
lodgings we rolled ourselves up in our wraps and lay down to a
perfect night's rest. Our next day's ride was through the ancient
town of Xacapoaxtla to Mazapa, a distance of forty miles, where
we spent the night with our familiar saddles, bridles, and blankets
piled up about us.

Vgain returning to Mexico, after a few days he took his
third extended trip, this time through the western district,
having in the meanwhile dedicated a third chapel to Christian
worship in Ixtaculco, a small Indian village near Mexico city,
and made a two days' visit to the flourishing work at Mira-
tlores.

Another mountain excursion of two brisk hours on horse-
back takes him to Amecameca, at the base of Popocatepetl,
where are the shrines of Saint Helena and others of the Monte
Sacro.

His trip to the northern part of the field embraced an all-
night's journey from Mexico to Leon; thence to Guanajuato,
where a day was spent in sight-seeing, and the Sabbath in
addressing two large congregations and the Sunday school:
thence to Salamanca; the next day to Cortazar; then in the
evening, a dark and somewhat risky coach ride to the night
train for Queretaro. where he arrived at midnight. The next
day was spent in visiting the historical spots in this historic
city, followed by preaching again in the evening to an inter-
ested congregation as he had at the four places just named.
He took the midnight train for the capital, where, on the
Sabbath following, he preached his farewell sermon in Mexico,
and on Monday night was off with his family for the north.

Hunting Prairie Chickens 279

1887-S8. — Ten Conferences in Seven States, West, East, and Sooth.—

Leaving Buffalo

His official travels in the fall of 1887 were to the Saint
Louis German at Warrenton, Missouri, North Nebraska at
Fremont, West Nebraska at Broken Bow, the Nebraska at
Lincoln, Pittsburg at New Brighton, Pennsylvania, and Cen-
tral New York at Elmira. After adjournment at Fremont
he hastened to Omaha, where he writes Mrs. Hurst, Septem-
ber 13:

Last night we had a union meeting and took $18,000 subscription
for a new church.

Of his presidency at West Nebraska Dr. P. C. Johnson says :

Marked by a careful, easy, courteous manner. His bearing was
modest, kind — nothing obtrusive or excessive. Without losing for a
moment the dignity of his place, office, or person, he was easy and
brotherly. He could be firm, even commanding.

Here is a bit of newspaper comment in Lincoln, Nebraska :

Bishop Hurst is dignified and learned, but happy, natural, and
companionable. He enjoys the little asides that keep men young.
Monday at Broken Bow he engaged in a chicken hunt — not failing,
either, in practical results.

In many churches he gave addresses on Mexico, illuminating
and stimulating to missionary zeal and gifts. One of these
was in Summerfield Church, Brooklyn, on November 7, while
the General Committees were in session. "The Estrangement
of the Masses from the Church" was the subject of his able
and useful address before the General Christian Conference
held by the Evangelical Alliance in Washington, D. C, in
December, 1887. The anniversary of sweet Blanche's decease
did not pass without messages to the lonely one in Buffalo :

jSo John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

Washington, December 6.

To Mrs. Hurst:

You will receive this on the 7th. My heart will be with you all
the time.

December 7. — I think much of our dear Blanche. Let us be watch-
ful and patient and we shall see her, and dear, sweet Clara, in the
heaven above and beyond.

On December 15 he read a liturgical form prepared by him-
self especially for the occasion at the dedication of the Meth-
odist Episcopal Hospital in Brooklyn. It was printed in The
Christian Advocate of the following week. On introducing
him to the assembly Dr. Buckley, the President of the Board
of Trustees, said :

Years ago I was an inmate of a hospital midway between London
and Constantinople, one of the best in the world, but its manage-
ment was utterly devoid of sympathy with Christianity. During those
five weeks I did not once hear the name of Jesus spoken by those
about me, and no minister's hand was extended to me in Christian
brotherhood beneath that roof, except the hand of Bishop Hurst,
who happened to visit me wmile there. You can understand, there-
fore, the satisfaction which I felt when the committee selected him to
perform the dedicatory service of an institution which will carry in
one hand medicine for the body, and in the other the Balm of Gilead
for the soul.

From San Gabriel, California, came to him from Dr. Abel
Stevens these strong words of appreciation and cheer as the
.Yew Year broke:

Mrs. Stevens wishes me to beg you and their mother to kiss the
little folks of the household for us. We fell in love with them at
Geneva, and often talk about them here, in the ends of the world.
' ."d bless them and the good mother who is so worthy of such blessed
maternity. God bless you also, my dear old friend, and spare you
long for his people !

The South Carolina at Charleston, the Virginia at Berry-
ville. the Baltimore at First Church, Baltimore, and the Phila-

Opening Gates for Preachers 281

delphia at Twelfth Street Church, Philadelphia, were his Con-
ferences for the first half of 1888. Prior to the session in
Charleston he fulfilled a long-cherished desire to visit Savan-
nah and vicinity. He writes Mrs. Hurst:

Near Washington, on way to Savannah, January 26. — In the night
I woke, and had some good aphorisms come to me, and I wrote them
down.

And Helen, Savannah, January 31 :

Savannah is a most curious place. There are many little squares,
and very old little buildings and walls which date from Colonial times.
There is a fine monument to Pulaski (read him up). I spent yes-
terday in visiting old and new Ebenezer — where the Salzburgers
had their home in America. Some of their descendants are still here,
and one of them drove me across the country and back — a distance of
30 miles. Whitefield and Wesley both visited their home. You
find Wesley's Works, and in his Journal you will see, early in first
volume, his account of his visit to the Salzburgers. Read it up —
examine you when I come home ! See if I don't.

At the South Carolina Conference, J. B. Middleton says :

He referred to the session of the first Methodist Conference held
in this city just 101 years before, and briefly compared the numerical
and spiritual strength of Methodism of that time with the present
day. The address did not consist in mere statistical forms or rhetori-
cal flourishes ; but rather in a scholarly presentation of important
truths in such a way that the most untutored mind could grasp and
hold the great central thought — the advancement of the Redeemer's
kingdom and the ultimate triumph of the Cross.

When he opened the Baltimore Conference he said with
great feeling :

I thank God for the brotherhood of Methodist ministers. I remem-
ber down on Eastern Shore, where I was born, that my highest
honor in boyhood was to open the gates for the preacher who came
to visit our home. I have been trying to open gates for the preachers
ever since. I am only too thankful when I can help a minister into
a better place.

John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

Dr. W. S. Edwards says:

In council and in the chair he was careful and courteous, dignified
without stiffness, and kind without running over with gush.

Of his work at Philadelphia, Dr. W. L. McDowell writes:

The Conference was delightfully impressed with his geniality and
brotherliness. His addresses to the classes for admission into full
membership and his sermons were characterized by clearness, thought-
fulness, scholarliness, and spirituality.

The tender memory of his mother thus mingled with an
assuring message to his wife sent from New York at the begin-
ning of the General Conference of 1888:

May 3. — This is one of the few anniversaries I can remember —
the day of my mother's death. I sometimes think she is looking
on me, and her good spirit is with me.

In the new adjustment of episcopal residences at the close
of the General Conference, he chose Washington, succeeding
Bishop Andrews, who went to New York, and being followed
at Buffalo by Bishop Vincent. The people of Buffalo sig-
nalized his departure by giving him and his family a farewell
reception at the Delaware Avenue parsonage. One of the most
pleasing and fitting features of this occasion was the reading
by Benjamin Copeland of his parting tribute:

Farewell, beloved Bishop Hurst,
In scholarship and kindness, first!
The saintly name befits him well,
On whom the Madeley mantle fell.
A bishop? Yes; and more, — a man !
Magnanimous in deed and plan,
A Brother of the Common Life,
A chieftain in Thought's sternest strife.
With every noble cause allied,
Niagara's flood, Potomac's tide
Shall tell unto the utmost sea
His seerlike faith and chivalry.

Leaving Buffalo 283

God grant that many years be given,

Ere Bishop Hurst goes home to heaven.

Watch over him by day and night,

Ye angels, excellent in might !

But when the church laments him, dead,

This to his praise shall then be said :

Close to the weak he ever stood ;

In goodness, great; — in greatness, good.

The value of these appreciative lines to Bishop and Mrs.
Hurst may be inferred from his letter of July 20, from Cottage
City, to Mr. Copeland :

I wish the subject were worthier — but if he strives to become
more worthy of the tribute, that may be one end gained. Kind words
generally come too late, but such as have come to me have done
me more good than harm.

Mrs. Hurst wrote Mr. Copeland from Washington, April
26, 1889:

Your beautiful lines on Bishop Hurst are still ringing in my ears
— " Niagara's flood — Potomac's tide."

Many will be glad that the exhortation which Bishop Hurst
sent from Shelter Island in July, 1889, to the author of these
verses has been obeyed: "Keep on touching the harp." His
uniform helpfulness to the preachers and churches of Buffalo
whenever he could aid has been expressed by Thomas Cardus
as "his unvarying kindness and the urbanity of manner with
which he received my requests for his presence and services
sometimes rendered at the cost of self-sacrifice." Dr. (now
Bishop) James W. Bashford says :

During my two years' pastorate at the Delaware Avenue Church,
Mrs. Hurst was a constant attendant at the services, and at the
prayer meetings, and Bishop Hurst was a regular attendant at the
church when he was not engaged elsewhere in episcopal duties. I
yet marvel at the appreciation with which he listened to my preach-
ing. I shall never be able to express his helpfulness to me in those

284 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

early days. Nor shall I ever forget the courtesy with which he
always received me and his kindness in coming often to the par-
sonage and inviting me to walk with him in the afternoon. We had
many delightful walks together, in which we discussed many prob-
lem-- of church and state. He was unusually full of information
gleaned from the best books in theology and ecclesiology. I often said
to him, after one of these walks, that I thought he ought to write
more, because he seemed to me to have a message for the church
which he had not fully expressed.

His Busy Pen 285

LI
The Author

Books of Two Quadrcnniums

His literary instinct and habit, which had not surrendered
to the pressure of executive labors and administrative cares at
Drew, not only survived amid the jostling of two prolonged
removals of his family, his household effects, and his library,
with all the interruptions incident to a proper adjustment to
the new social environment, but took on new forms of pro-
ductiveness as his new office, with its extensive travel and in-
numerable contacts with men, brought him to the practical
survey of new fields ; yet still clung tenaciously to the themes
and departments of theological study which had earlier won
a firm place in his thought and purpose. The stream of his
numerous contributions over his own name to the periodical
press, by no means confined to those of his own denomination,
seemed to broaden with the ever-widening circles of his jour-
neys to and fro in the earth and became the living nerves for
the transmission of inspiring information to the church from
the points of its impact upon the world, while the volume of
his anonymous writing which for years had been flowing into
the editorial columns of The Christian Advocate and a few
other journals, both religious and secular, continued with but
slight if any diminution.

A brief survey of his books and pamphlets, issued during
the first two quadrenniums of his episcopal residence at Des
Moines and Buffalo, brings to our view an interesting group.

Bibliotheca Theologica, a Bibliography of Theology and
General Religious Literature, was published by Scribners in

286 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

[883. This book, like several others of his writing, appeared
m a form which was the resultant of an original and broad
purpose, in this case dating as early as 1867, during his resi-
dence in Bremen, to make a general thesaurus, but later modi-
tied to bring it into a more compact compass more suited to
the actual needs of preachers and theological students. Of his
first scheme he says:

The titles of foreign books multiplied rapidly and my interest in
the undertaking steadily increased. But the material became unwieldy
and, after two years of such labor as could be bestowed upon it, the
completion seemed farther in the future than at the outset. I
reached a point where it seemed best to sacrifice a cherished plan
to a public want.

The book was prepared in "mere fragments of time" saved
"during the stress and pressure of graver duties; somewhat,"
he says, "after the fashion of that choice piece of work,
Bethune's edition of good Izaak Walton's Complete Angler,
of which, when completed, the editor said: 'I have lost no
time by it, for it was the occupation of moments when others
would have been looking out of the windows.' In the com-
pilation of titles and other ways he was aided successively in
the progress of the work, in Germany by John P. Jackson ;
at Madison by the writer, by George B. Smyth, and by George
J. Coombes ; and at Des Moines by J. C. W. Coxe. The book
contains about 5,300 titles, giving size, pages, publishers, date
and place of publication, with an index each of authors and
subjects, on 431 clear open octavo pages. It formed the basis
of his later and larger work entitled Literature of Theology.

Theological Encyclopaedia and Methodology, a joint product
with Dr. George R. Crooks, came from the press of the
Methodist Book Concern in 1884, being the third in the series
of the Biblical and Theological Library to appear, though it
was the second on which the printing was begun. This work

The Sword of Christ 287

was on the general plan of Professor Hagenbach, of Basel,
but many modifications and adaptations to English students
were introduced. Of this pioneer volume in English Professor
Philip Schaff, of the Union Theological Seminary, said: "It
is the only book in the English language, so far, which answers
the purpose." Professor H. M. Scott, of Chicago Theological
Seminary, says: "The valuable and indispensable book of
Hagenbach is not merely given us in American dress, but the
additions and adaptations make it well-nigh an independent
authority." The revised edition was issued in 1894, the work
of revision having been performed chiefly by Dr. Crooks. This
portly octavo of 596 pages has been and is a suggestive and
safe guide to hundreds desiring to investigate special fields of
religious philosophy, history, and doctrine.

The Gospel a Combative Force, a sermon, was published by
Phillips & Hunt in a pamphlet of 24 pages in 1884, at the
request of the New York East Conference of that year. The
resolution of that body characterizes the discourse as "one of
great spiritual advantage as well as ability." This sermon, too,
was a growth. In its first form it was preached at his second
pastoral charge. Passaic, on June 26, 1859. ^ became a
favorite with him, and he preached it at intervals to the last
with increasing pleasure to himself and profit to his hearers.
A few sentences from its shining pages reveal the sword of
Christ :

You fail to find any analogy to the young and valiant Christianity
as it stood before the world, in the presence of Judaism and paganism,
the sworn foes of every step of its advance. With unblanched cheek
and steady eye and drawn sword it went from one field of victory
to another, making no compromise with any faith that sued for its
valorous friendship, conquering the old lands for its new gospel,
stripping the venerable temples of their dying faiths, releasing the
prisoner and the slave, filling the very archway of the firmament with
its songs of triumph, occupying the Roman throne by a natural

John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

gravitation, threading the deserts, climbing the mountains, pene-
trating the savage northern forests, building its churches, rearing
happy homes, establishing schools, and constructing a civilization new
to the world.

hi 1S84, too, was issued from the press of Harper's his
Short History of the Reformation, the first of a series of
five terse, pithy sketches of leading characters, principles, and
events in the progress and development of Christianity as seen
in the church. Of this Professor George P. Fisher, of Yale
University, wrote:

Let me express to you my admiration of your little book on The
Reformation, which I have just looked through. It is verily " multum
in parvo." You have succeeded in condensing, without crowding,
a mass of matter which, were the order less lucid and the style less
perspicuous, it would be impossible to bring into so brief a compass.
I congratulate you on your remarkable success.

This praise was equally due the other four of the series.
which were a Short History of the Early Church (1886),
a Short History of the Mediaeval Church (1887), a Short
History of the Modern Church in Europe, and, by a little antic-
ipation of what saw the light after he came to Washington,
a Short History of the Church in the United States. These
popular little volumes of about 130 pages each were taken
up by the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circles, and have
had a combined circulation of over 145,000 copies. Nearly if
not quite all of the manuscript of the Modern Church in
Kurope was prepared by him from notes carried on his journey
while he was in Texas in December, 1886. It was the writer's
privilege in this case, as in many others, to prepare copy for
the printer from the author's original draft in pencil, received
in installments by mail from San Antonio and other Texan
cities and towns. Together this series constitute a link in the
'ling chain of church histories between the Outline

Articles on Mexico -^9

(1875), and the Short History of the Christian Church

(1893).
For his fellow Eastern-Shoreman and collegian friend, Dr.

R. W. Todd, he wrote an introduction to that fine specimen
of local church history, Methodism of the Peninsula (Phila-
delphia, 1886). In the same year (1886) he published in
pamphlet form The Success of the Gospel and the Failure of
the Xew Theologies (Ketcham, New York).

While on his Mexican tour and immediately thereafter he
wrote a series of articles on the literary and educational phases
of life in Mexico which together would constitute a valuable
volume. They cover such themes as: Mexican Literature
before the Spanish Conquest, Religious Orders of New Spain,
Literary Spirit of the Religious Orders, First Printers of New
Spain, First Books of the Mexican Press, The Earlier Schools,
Literature during the Spanish Domination, Elegiac and Gen-
eral Poets, Lyric and Dramatic Poets, Literary Groups of
Mexico, Scientific Societies, Scientific Scholars of Mexico,
Periodical Literature, Paradise of the Portales, Search for
Americana, and Present Trend of Mexican Thought, all of
which soon appeared in the Independent.

His pamphlet, The Theology of the Twentieth Century,
published in New York, 1887, by the Missionary Society of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, was his address given at the
dedication of the new Hall of Theology of Boston University,
November 10, 1886. Its 34 pages gleam and glow with beauty
of sentiment and strength of statement, and furnish a fine
example of a progressive scholarship firmly linked with evan-
gelical fervor in the propagation of religious truth and life.
20

2go John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

LII
The Bishop

1868-90. — At Washington. — General Conference in New York. — Fourteen
Conferences in Eight States, Northwest, East, Central, and Sooth

Bishop Hurst presided at three sessions of the General Con-
ference of 1888 in New York city, at the Metropolitan Opera
House — those of May 5, 18, and 29, and on the latter date
joined with Bishop Ninde and the Rev. William Griffin and
J. F. Marshall in the laying on of hands at the consecration
of Bishop-elect John P. Newman. On the 8th he made a
memorable address on the Colonization of the Slave at the
anniversary of the Freedmen's Aid Society. When the ques-
tion of electing a Bishop for Europe was before the body,
delegate Achard from Germany requested and was granted
the privilege of speaking in German and having Bishop Hurst
interpret. A report of this incident was made to the Univer-
sal ist Church organ, the Christian Leader, in the following-
racy paragraph :

A delegate replied, " Speak in English, we want to understand you."
The witty Dr. Buckley was on his feet and with mock indignation
said, " I ohject to the imputation that the members of this Conference
can't understand the German language." The German was an orator
and spoke with eloquence. He would utter five or six sentences, and
with the greatest fluency and clearness the Bishop repeated them in
English, repeating the emphasis, inflections, almost the intonations,
of the speaker. At the last the German forgot the Bishop and spoke
nt least twenty sentences, only stopping when the increasing laughter
of the assembly at the hard task he was imposing on the Bishop
reminded him. A faint smile crept over the Bishop's face as the
sentences went on, but when they stopped, without a flaw or break he
repeated in English the German's extended peroration. It was a
marvelous piece of work. To have repeated an English address in

In Touch with the Preachers 291

this manner would have been a hard task, but to carry the thought
and at the same time make translation into another tongue was an
intellectual feat. That is the kind of bishops this breezy church is
willing to have over it. We wouldn't object to having such in our
own church.

During the greater part of his first year in Washington
Bishop Hurst and his family had rooms at the Riggs House.
His fall Conferences in 1888 were the Norwegian and Danish
at Saint Paul, North German at Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, Min-
nesota at Winona, and the North Dakota at Jamestown. After
completing this round he is in Martha's Vineyard with Mrs.
Hurst, who on October 28 writes Helen, already at school in
Washington :

; I wish you could peep in and see how happy we are since papa
returned, and hear him tell of his traveling experiences. He stopped
over one night in Buffalo to look after the little stone at Forest Lawn.
He stayed at Mr. Root's, and made no other calls except on business.

On February 17, 1889, as was his frequent custom of visit-
ing churches unannounced, he greatly surprised and delighted
the preacher and people at Ryland Church by coming through
the rain and preaching to them on "Faith a Victor." His goods
and books (about 8,000 volumes), which had been in storage
in Buffalo since midsummer of 1888. were shipped to Wash-
ington March 21, 1889, filling two cars and part of a third,
and were again put in storage in Washington until he could
secure a house. The spring of 1889 brought him three Con-
ferences : New England Southern at Taunton, Massachusetts.
Maine at Lewiston, and East Maine at Dexter. Dr. S. O.
Benton writes concerning the session at Taunton :

On the afternoons of two or three days of the Conference session
he came to the lecture room of the church and mingled freely with
the brethren socially. This gave them an opportunity for a personal
acquaintance with the presiding Bishop such as is rarely accorded to

2Q2 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

the members of an Annual Conference. This fraternal act of his was
commented upon by the brethren with very great pleasure.

Dr. D. A. Jordan says :

He impressed the Conference by the ease with which he carried
the responsibilities of his position. I recall his great familiarity with
and his deep interest in the Swedish work, which was just then
beginning to develop with us in that Conference.

Of the session in Dexter, I. H. \Y. Wharff says:

His power to measure men was almost wonderful. He was exceed-
ingly interested in the temperance work in Maine, and did not hesitate
to say and do all in his power to aid this work. He changed the
number of districts from four to three. One presiding elder was
going out, and I urged him to continue the man on the fourth district
on the new one that was to be made out of the fourth and parts of
another. He replied in that easy way of his, " Wharff, I would do
it in a minute if I thought his health was equal to it."

While at the East Maine Conference he sends this note of

confession and comfort to Mrs. Hurst, April 30 :

I forgot all about the anniversary of our marriage until I reached
here, and received your welcome letter. Thirty years ! How much
happiness we have had ! I am trying to forget our two great sorrows,
because they are so happy. So I think only of the joys past, and to
come.

He makes a trip to the Ohio Wesleyan University, in May,
1889, and writes Mrs. Hurst, from Delaware, May 20:

At 8 this a. m. I lectured on " Recollections of German University
Life " to a great body of students.

His fall assignments were four Conferences: Northwest

Indiana at Brazil, Central German at Toledo, Ohio, Central

Ohio at Upper Sandusky, and East Ohio at Massillon. Dr.

W. H. Hickman says of the first :

We were grappling with that difficult problem of how to get rid
of a man without a trial and scandal, dealing justly and mercifully

" To Know was to Love Him " 293

with the man, and at the same time protecting the church. After
one of those troubled sessions he asked me to walk with him. The
saloon question had come into politics more than ever. The Bishop
was such an enemy to the saloon, with its corrupting influences in
civic affairs, that he had put himself squarely on the prohibition of
the licensed system. I was surprised at his broad information on
political affairs, at home and abroad; and my heart was moved as
I listened to his burning words in denouncing the liquor traffic and
the subserviency of public servants to this evil.

Samuel Beck also says :

The beautiful simplicity in the spirit and character of his work
favorably impressed the members and presiding elders of the Confer-
ence. Any member of the Conference could approach him without
embarrassment. He left the work of the Cabinet largely with the
presiding elders, and as a rule he would approve their recommenda-
tions. When issues were raised he would get all the information he
could and then decide them with firmness. To know Bishop Hurst
was to love him.

To Mrs. Hurst he wrote from Brazil, September 9 :

I am surprised, indeed, that my little poem (Our Immortals at
Fourscore) was ever accepted, and the more that it could have been
published last week, as I only copied it off and mailed it from the
Hoyts'. I am delighted that you like it; that pleases me more than
the admiration of all others.

Charles W. Taneyhill, of Central Ohio Conference, says:

Bishop Hurst always looked out for the interests of the church.
Ministers, though presiding elders, were instruments, but the church
of Jesus Christ was all in all to him. The Johnlike spirit pervaded
him.

Dr. Leroy A. Belt adds :

At the birthplace of missions, by the graves of Stewart, the black
man, the first missionary to the Wyandottes, and of early missionaries,
their wives and children, and also of the converted chiefs and warriors,
Red Eyed Fox, Mononcue, Between the Logs, and many others,
Hurst was at home, at once evincing the fact by recitations of history.

294 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

He made one of the best speeches ever heard here, and I have heard
many, particularly Simpson.

Dr. W. H. Rider writes:

At the Massillon Conference his work was critical. He heard
all representations with a brother's heart, and did his work with
cool determination, without a word or act to be regretted, and with
tenderness and love. His sermon was a great masterpiece fitted for
an assembly of the profoundest scholars and the humblest Christians.
It was simply the gospel for all. His presidency was not marked
with too apparent ideas of parliamentary dignity or judicial exactness.
His Conferences were not court rooms, but families, and he was not
conscious of prerogative, but of a fatherly relation to every one. So
little technicalities were brushed out of the way for real interests.
I remember one occasion, when Moses Hill was speaking to some
question, he recognized that he had run against some minor barrier
of a legal nature. In the midst of his discomfiture he turned to the
Bishop and said, " It would be all right, Bishop, if you would only
give it a twist." The Bishop gave it " the twist," and " the motion
prevailed."

After securing a home in the fall of 1889, and settling his
family, November 1, in the house formerly occupied by Gen-
eral Logan, at 4 Iowa Circle, the early weeks of January, 1890,
find him in the South again, this time presiding over the
Savannah Conference at Augusta, the Georgia at Mount Zion.
and the Alabama at Xew Decatur. Of the work at Mount
Zion R. H. Robb says :

He saw what in his judgment would greatly strengthen the work
for the next vear and did it although it offended some.

*>>'

This beautiful message of appreciation came to him in early
February from President (later Bishop) James \Y. Bashford,
of Ohio Wesleyan University :

I am receiving daily fresh demonstrations of your wisdom and
foresight in urging me to come here. Your words when you visited
Buffalo a year ago last fall led to the decision. Your judgment was
better than my own. I love the Delaware Avenue people and had a

His "Clear, Strong Judgment" j.^^

delightful pastorate with them. But I sometimes think that I can
do more good here in a week than I accomplished there in a year.
I seem to be standing at a great fountain of life directing streams
to every part of the world. Many come to converse with me daily.
I insist upon the New Testament standard of consecrated Christian
manhood or womanhood in every case, and then leave the Holy Spirit
to make plain his call to the ministry or to mission work. I have
felt like thus thanking you for your clear, strong judgment. Accept
the words of my heart.

On February 7 the first of a series of parlor meetings, in-
cluding one each at Mrs. Henry W. Blair's and Postmaster-
General Wanamaker's, was held in the parlors of Mrs. Hurst,
and Miss Jane Bancroft spoke in the interest of organizing
the Lucy Webb Hayes Training School. There was a large
company present, and the one gentleman who was there beside
Bishop Hurst was Air. William J. Sibley, who gave one hun-
dred dollars toward the establishment of the school. Mrs.
Jane Bancroft Robinson says :

At this meeting Mr. Sibley became interested in the subject of dea-
coness hospitals, and later built for us at a cost of $10,000 the small
building, later enlarged, of our present flourishing hospital. Mrs.
Hurst was particularly sympathetic in the efforts that were making
at that time, and Bishop Hurst presided at a number of meetings
at different churches where I spoke.

This busy, anxious winter was the time of his successful
canvass of Washington for funds to purchase the ninety acres
constituting the site of the American University. Alas ! to this
burden of care was soon to be added the greater one of grief.
She who had for the thirty-five years since their hearts met in
the heart of the Catskills been an inspiration and solace to him
in all his work — a helpmeet indeed — quietly fell into her last
sleep on March 14, and he was as never before alone.

2o6 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

LIII

The Husband in Grief

Death of Catherine E. Hurst

Catherine Elizabeth La Monte, one of three daughters of
Dr. William and Anna (Vroman) La Monte, was born in
Charlotteville, Schoharie County, New York, October 28,
1836. She had one brother, Wellington La Monte. On her
father's side she was of Huguenot descent, and on her mother's
side was related to the Van Rensselaers of New York. Wil-
liam La Monte was a man of much energy, of high ideals
in his profession of medicine, in his business methods and
standards, and in his civic relations. He enjoyed the respect
and confidence of his fellow citizens in a high degree and by
their choice represented them in the State Legislature.

Catherine, or, as she was more frequently and popularly
called, Kate, spent her girlhood and received her education in
Charlotteville, where in her seventeenth year she graduated,
September 28, 1853, from the New York Conference Seminary,
in a class of eighteen. Alonzo Flack was then at the head of
this school. The theme of her graduating essay was, "Why
Are We Here?" an indication in itself of the serious and ethical
quality of her nature. Miss Angeline Ensign, who became the
wife of Bishop John P. Newman, was one of her schoolmates
and intimate friends, and under God's blessing was largely
instrumental in her conversion during their united school days.
Mrs. Newman says:

To picture her personal beauty and intelligent charms would be no
easy task. She never failed to excite my admiration for her spright-
liness and genius. She was a natural born linguist. We have laughed
together over our first efforts in art, particularly in our class in oil

Mrs. Hurst's Tastes and Works 297

painting, but it was our dear Kate who bore off the palm. She was
the acknowledged charm of the family circle, as the La Montes were
the pride of the village and a tower of strength to the seminary.

Kate's services in instruction were at times, even before, and
more after, her graduation, brought into requisition in this
school where her father's interest had become a paramount one.
Astronomy and botany were the branches she conducted in
1856-57. As we have already seen, a kind Providence guided
her in the autumn of 1854 to her new position as teacher of
the "ornamental branches" in Hedding Literary Institute, at
Ashland, where the threads of her life in the loom of mutual
love were beautifully interwoven with those of John Fletcher
Hurst.

Amid all her ceaseless activities in creating and guarding
the precious interests of the home, which was within the thirty
years of their married life domiciled in no less than eleven
different houses — one each in Passaic, Elizabethport, Eliza-
beth, West New Brighton, Bremen, Frankfort, two in Mad-
ison, one in Des Moines, Buffalo, and Washington, besides
the frequent and prolonged tarryings of the family in hotels
and other temporary quarters — her pen, her pencil, and her
brush were always within easy reach of her hand, which never
lost its cunning for the literary and aesthetic pursuits so loved
in her youth. Her water colors and oil paintings, especially
those of landscape, form a gallery of themselves, though many
of them were widely scattered by her generous thoughtfulness
of the pleasure of others. Her chief literary work was four
adaptations from the German, Good Women of History:
Anna Lavater, a Picture of Swiss Pastoral Life in the Past
Century (Cincinnati: 1870) ; Renata of Este, a Chapter from
the History of the Reformation in France and Italy (New
York: 1872); Queen Louisa of Prussia, or Goodness in a
Palace (New York: 1874) ; and Elizabeth Christine, Wife of

John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

Frederick the Great (New York: 1880), all from the church
pre

She began her work on Anna Lavater in the spring of
[868 and completed it in February, 1869. Bishop Janes said
of her Queen Louisa: "I wish our Sunday school libraries
could have more of such books. It is a gem." Her Elizabeth
Christine, though based on the German of Ziethe, was ampli-
fied and enriched by material drawn from Carlyle and other
si >urces. While these sketches were intended primarily for
youthful readers, the clear, pellucid stream of the narrative
attracts and holds the maturer mind by its sparkling beauty
and melodious flow. On June 28, 1867, she wrote from
Bremen to her sister, Mrs. Elmore :

I try to teach them (John, seven years, and Clara, about six) a
verse from the Bible every day, and then they recite it at prayers
in the evening. They can repeat the Apostles' Creed, first psalm,
twenty-third psalm, and are now learning the Ten Commandments —
know five already.

Of her last days, Bishop Hurst wrote Carl, who was in

Europe, on March 17, 1890:

During January, when I was in the South, she had the grippe
severely. But when I reached home, February first, she was over it.
During that month she was unusually well, but complaining much
of her head. She was very happy, and especially in view of getting
the house in such beautiful order. She kept up her calls, received
visitors, attended church and meetings, and was very happy. From
3d March to 7th I was in New York (relative to University) and
when I got home she was very well. Then I left again on Monday
Toth and got back nth. She met me, and said: "I am sorry, Papa,
T have not been so well." The next a. M. she lay in bed. Dr. Stanton
came and thought nothing unusual or serious. He prescribed. She
lay in bed that day. Could not sleep much at night — old trouble.
Xext day doctor came, she was not any worse, and got up in after-
noon and stayed up in evening. Next a. m. she was up early.
Doctor came, and she had a pleasant time, and joked with the doctor
about the little hop pillow he had prescribed. She complained to
me of her head, one side paining her. But I think she thought of

" Died Gently and Sweetly ' 299

nothing serious. She wrote four letters to friends. She took break-
fast in her room, and was about the whole morning. In afternoon
about three she was stricken. Helen and I were in the house at the
time. She was conscious about one half hour, but could articulate
but little. I asked her if she could trust the Saviour, to which she
replied, as best she could, in the affirmative. The attack was apoplexy.
She soon passed into a comatose condition, heavy breathing, eyes
closed, and died gently and sweetly at 8 p. m. . . . She was as pure
and beautiful a mother as ever lived. . . . Let us brighten up, do the
good work that our dear Lord puts in our path, and remember the
best is yet to come to him who is worthy of work in the cause of
human helpfulness.

Her son. John La Monte, was summoned by telegram from
Denver, and came immediately. Her funeral services were con-
ducted at the residence, on Tuesday, March 18, by her pastor,
the Rev. Dr. George H. Corey, of the Metropolitan Church,
who made an address of appreciation on her Christian life, her
varied talents, and great usefulness. Dr. Henry A. Buttz, Pres-
ident of Drew Theological Seminary, also spoke words of tender
sympathy and high commendation of the excellencies and vir-
tues of the woman who had successfully filled so many impor-
tant stations in the course of her fruitful life. Remarks were
made by Drs. H. R. Naylor, J. H. Dashiell, and George Elli-
ott, the pastors of other Methodist churches of Washington.
Delegations came from Baltimore and from Philadelphia, and
many distinguished citizens were present. Among those who
were honored with the privilege of bearing the sacred dust
on its way to the tomb were Andrew B. Duvall, Elijah W.
Halford, General S. S. Henkle, Mark Hoyt. Hon. W. M.
Springer, and Senator H. M. Teller. The private interment
was at the Rock Creek Cemetery, where the remains of her
darling Blanche on removal from Forest Lawn in Buffalo a
year later were deposited on April 9, 1891. Together they
shall wake on the eternal morning. Dr. James M. Buckley in
an editorial said:

300 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

Her hospitality was unbounded; pleasing everywhere, she was
never more charming than at her own table. Genuine Christian
sympathy and interest in all that made the world better and happier
were her chief religious characteristics. If it be true that conjugal
love increases with the number and extent of the vicissitudes of
mutual joy or sorrow through which husband and wife may pass, then
must this separation on its earthly side be indeed grievous.

The Rev. J. W. Cornelius said in Zion's Herald:

By native suavity, keen discrimination, thorough refinement, easy
adaptation, large literary acquirements, true piety and consecration to
the Lord's work, she was a helpmeet indeed in any pastoral, educa-
tional, literary, or episcopal service which her distinguished partner
in life has filled.

Dr. Jesse Bowman Young says:

In his activity as a writer she was from the time of their happy
marriage, in 1859, until her death, an elementary constituent. She
was a gentle and noble type of womanhood; she dispensed a generous
hospitality, and yet found time and method for literary activities and
fellowships.

Dr. Olin B. Coit, of Northern New York Conference, writes :

She was his inspiration, and but for her he would never have
developed his great powers. She was lofty in her ideals, scholarly
in all her tastes, and her ambition for him was unbounded.

Bishop Bashford, who was her pastor in Buffalo in 1887-88,

says :

Mrs. Hurst was a woman of beautiful Christian spirit and rare
good judgment. She and her children were always in their accus-
tomed places at public worship and at the Sunday school, and proved
a real help to the Christian life of the church.

Dr. Faulkner says :

One of the most noble and accomplished ladies that ever presided
in a Methodist parsonage. Her devotion, her sympathy, her tact, her
ine accomplishments, were ever laid on the altar of her home.

"Center of a Loving Circle" 301

On April 7 a memorial service was held at Metropolitan

Church, and on the same day at a similar service held by the

Newark Conference at its annual session Dr. Buttz read a

beautiful and touching tribute to her name and character.

Among many precious words he said :

Here (at Drew) she was the center of a loving circle, to whom
her presence and companionship were always a joy. Her residence
there was alike a gratification and a blessing, to their associates in
seminary life, to the many students for the ministry with whom she
was associated, and to the whole community. She had rare gifts
in meeting and making at home all conditions of people with whom
she came in contact. Her house was ever open, and her greetings
to the many who visited her home always cordial and winning.
The many who met her in her home life will remember with grati-
tude the comfort and helpfulness of her intercourse, and the largeness
and beauty of her hospitality. The students always found an open
door and a hearty welcome. The pastor and the pastor's family
found in her a true friend, and the people of the church recognized
her as associated with them in the work of the gospel. Thus all parts
of our community were pleasantly influenced by her spirit, her words,
and her kindly deeds. While she was there they rejoiced in the
sunshine of her presence, and now that she has passed over the river
they deeply mourn that she is gone, and expect by God's grace to meet
her on the other shore, where the Easter brightness shall never fade.

A few weeks after her decease Bishop Hurst wrote to Dr.

W. S. Edwards, of Baltimore:

My wife was really a beautiful character, and I wonder at the
goodness of the Lord in permitting me to have her companionship
for over thirty years.

In one of his memorandum books he wrote :

She who was my comfort three decades must still exist in some
happy place and condition, for her Maker would place her there.
Where she exists she must be of the same character as when here,
only stronger and purer in her present state. In leisure hours she
was singularly able to make others happy, and I know she must
be contributing in some way to the happiness of others. I am com-
forted that she must now be making others happy.

W2 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

To his old and esteemed friends, Dr. and Mrs. Porter,
Bishop 1 lurst says:

She was my instructor. I can see nothing which has proved to he
a success in which I have had any part in which she was not before
mo in faith and hope. Her last passion was a National University
at Washington. There was no decadence in her mental force. We
had talked death all over last summer, and she then said that she
had no fear of death. Her favorite work was Kempis's Imitation
of Christ, of which she kept two copies about her. Her favorite
hymn was. " Lead, Kindly Light." " One step enough for me," was
frequently on her lips. She was full of joy and humor. She certainly
did not know any pain in her passage to her crown.

Relieved by His Colleagues 30;

LIV
The Bishop

1890-91. — Two Trips Across the Atlantic. — Three Conferences in Maryland
and New York. — The Second Ecumenical Conference

At their May meeting in New York his colleagues of the
Episcopal Board with thoughtful considerateness divided
among themselves the work which would naturally have fallen
to him in the autumn of 1890. A double burden, the one of
care and responsibility for the vast educational project whose
founding he had undertaken, and the other of sorrow and
care over his household broken by the decease of his wife,
rested upon him. As a help toward the development of the
former and as a partial diversion from the latter, he sailed
with Carl, Helen, and Paul for Europe about the middle of
May. On June 17 in a letter to the writer he says :

I have been in London, with the children, about three weeks, and
leave for Holland this week. I have been studying the University of
London, and hoping to use its methods for our own enterprise in
Washington.

'&*■

After a few weeks spent at Tubingen, Paris, and other
points on the Continent he returned, August 27, with Helen
and Paul, Carl tarrying in London for a little work in the
British Museum, intending in a few days to return to his
studies in Tubingen. His arrival in New York, September 5,
was saddened by a cable message that Carl was sick in London
with typhoid fever, having been taken ill the day after the
departure of his father for America. Helen and Paul came
directly on to Washington, where the house at 4 Iowa Circle
was again open, while their father took the first steamer Sep-

jo4 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

tember 6, and spent on the ocean a most anxious week of
mingled hope and fear for the recovery of Carl. Just before
starting on the Servia he writes from New York, September
6 to 1 Iclen :

Go on, you and Paul, to school as usual. Keep up your spirits.
( Kid knows best. Have prayers together every day.

On September 15 he is by Carl's side in a London hospital,
where he found the young man near the crisis of the fever.
A few days of waiting and nights of watching were followed
by the good news that the danger was past. After a month
of careful nursing father and son board the Majestic and on
October 22 land in New York. On the 23d a joyful union
was that of the four in the Washington home. Immediately
he prepares for the semiannual meeting of the Bishops to be
held for the first time in Washington, beginning October 30.

His assignments for the following spring were three Con-
ferences : East German at Baltimore, Northern New York at
Watertown, and Troy at Johnstown, New York. Of his presi-
dency at Johnstown Edwin Genge says :

After an evangelistic sermon on Sunday evening by Dr. Hite,
Bisbop Hurst mingled with the brethren in the altar urging the
unconverted to seek salvation and exhorting, with much earnestness,
to immediate surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ. To the young men
of the Conference it was an object lesson, commending the old-time
methods of the fathers with the indorsement of one of our most
cultured and intellectual leaders.

After meeting his colleagues in semiannual session at Green-
castle. Indiana, he returns about May 15 to arrange for the
formal organization and incorporation of the Board of Trus-
tees 1 if the American University, which took place at the
Arlington Hotel, on May 28, in the rooms once owned and
occupied as his residence by Charles Sumner at the corner
of [ Street and Vermont Avenue. He was elected to mem-

Second Ecumenical Conference 305

bership in Phi Beta Kappa at Greencastle in 1891 and later
served as Senator, 1895-1901. He preached the baccalaureate
sermon at Wellesley College and delivered the baccalaureate
address at De Pauw University in June.

Much of his time during the summer and early fall was con-
sumed in preparations for the Second Ecumenical Methodist
Conference to be convened in October in the Metropolitan
Church. His official duties, indeed, in connection with this
great assembly began as early as November 20, 1890, when he
met with the various committees of correspondence of the
Ecumenical Commission of the Western Section. Here he
was appointed a member of the Executive Committee, and upon
its organization the same day he was elected chairman. He
discharged the duties of that office during its existence. He
was also made chairman of the Committee on Programme
and Correspondence, which entailed much care of minutiae and
adjustment of details before the work was completed. He was
also appointed member of a committee to correspond with
those churches of the Western Section from which no com-
munications had yet been received. On May 4. 1891, he pre-
sided at a meeting of the Executive Committee at Wesley Hall
in Baltimore, and again at Saratoga, on August 5. He served
as chairman of the local Committee on Entertainment and Re-
ception and was also chosen chairman of the Business Com-
mittee when the Ecumenical Conference was organized. In
all these functions he acted with wise efficiency and coop-
erated heartily with all who were charged with joint responsi-
bility in guiding the affairs of the great body to a successful
issue. Dr. James M. King, secretary of the Conference, says :

Bishop Hurst's relation to the Second Ecumenical Conference was
that of organizer, guide, and inspirer. He had all the facts and details
not only in hand but in heart.

On the afternoon of the first day it became his pleasant duty
21

306 Jonx Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

t< i give the first address of welcome — one of the happiest efforts
of his life on the platform, where he was always strong. A
few of his apt utterances are samples of the brilliant whole:

Our common Methodism, extending from this church, which here
opens so heartily its doors for your entertainment, to the farthest
missionary chapel on the farthest island of the farthest sea, will be
aided to a larger faith and a more heroic endeavor by the work
which, through the divine blessing, shall be done in the fortnight
which lies before us. No century can ever come when the welcome
will be more cordial, the presence more highly appreciated, or the
remembrance more grateful. All the early Wesleyan leaders knew
how to descrihe an odyssey, but not one could describe an anabasis.
They could wander widely in search of souls, but never retreat to
the old camping ground. Victories beyond sea became a juvenile habit.
( Vvlon, where every prospect pleases, has blossomed beneath Meth-
odist care ever since the aged, tireless Coke turned thitherward. True,
he died on the way, but the coral beds beneath a tropic sea became his
fit mausoleum, while the ceaseless waves of the Indian Ocean have
ever since been chanting requiems to his memory. Faith always
begins a new march at the last footprints of its immortal dead.

As he continued in his warm greetings to the various dele-
gations he suddenly broke out in the mother tongue of the
Fatherland as he welcomed the Germans, and then, after a
pause while the audible thrill of pleasure subsided into quiet,
he saluted the French delegates in their own silvery tongue.
The effect was a marvelous and beautiful suggestion of the
spirit of Pentecost — of unity in diversity. At the close of his
address he and Dr. Stephenson clasped hands in token of the
unity of the Methodisms of the two hemispheres. Dr. Thomas
O'Hanlon says :

The effect of the address, especially of the peroration, on the vast
assemblage was profound and permanent. It was a very great occa-
sion, and Rishop Hurst by the blessing of God more than measured
up to its great demands.

On the second day he informed the Conference that the

Closing Ecumenical Address 307

presidential chair on the platform, constructed from beams
of the City Road Chapel at the expense of a generous Wes-
leyan Methodist layman, was to be used during the Conference
and afterward presented to the American University. He also
laid upon the desk for the use of the Conference the Bible
from the Epworth Church, used by the Rev. Samuel Wesley,
this volume being the property of the Rev. Dr. W. H. Boole,
of Staten Island. On the fifth day, October 12, he introduced
the members of the Conference with the ladies accompanying
them to President and Mrs. Harrison, who received them at
the White House, and on the tenth day, October 17, largely
through his suggestions and arrangement, President Harrison
and his Secretary of the Treasury, Hon. Charles Foster, and
his Secretary of the Interior, Hon. John W. Noble, were intro-
duced and addressed the Conference. The President spoke at
some length, with his usual pertinency and intelligence, on
International Arbitration, the theme of the hour. At the
closing session on the afternoon of the twelfth day, October
20, Dr. Stephenson in speaking to the resolution of thanks
said of Bishop Hurst :

We have all known his character and bearing, but now that we
have seen his modesty and gentleness and thoughtful kindness we
have learned to love him.

At this session Bishop Hurst presided and made the final
address, contributing greatly to heighten the lofty tone of
spirituality which marked the closing hours. The Pacific
Christian Advocate said :

Bishop Hurst delivered a very broad and catholic farewell address,
marked by tender pathos and deep solemnity.

Among other words of strength and light were these:

If we ask, " What does the Conference mean ? What is the note
which it sends out over land and sea?" we are compelled to answer,

io8 Jonx Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

" Union and progress." No legislative function has it possessed, not
uigle law has it thought of enacting, yet there are forces that are
far beyond the law. There is a power which creates law. There
were lines of art, rigid and old, in the times of Michelangelo, but
when he appeared he enlarged the horizon of the lines of art. After
he poised Saint Peter's dome in mid-air, and released the rugged
" Moses " from the shapeless rock, and threw upon the walls of the
Sistine Chapel the figures of joy and sorrow which glow in the
"Last Judgment," there were new revelations for the art of the
future. So the lessons here have been lessons for the lawmakers of
the future. When after ten years we greet each other, how delightful
will be the salutation, with these golden memories coming up to aid
us in the sweet enchantment! And if we never meet again here,
what matters it? All the more glorious shall be the salvation when,
with robe and palm and crown, we meet at the King's right hand,
and behold him in his beauty, and go no more out forever.

1891-92. — At Washington. — Nine Conferences in Five States, Sooth, East,
and West. — General Conference at Omaha

Upon adjournment of the General Committees at Cleveland
in November, 189 1, he is off for Texas again, where he held
the four Conferences : Austin at Waco, Texas at Houston.
Southern German at Seguin, and the West Texas at Victoria.
The opportunity for frequent horseback rides while in Texas,
especially at Waco and Seguin, was greatly appreciated and
industriously used to his great improvement in physical health,
which had been quite worn by the strain of the Ecumenical
Conference added to many other exacting labors. The spring
of 1892 brought him to the presidency of the New England
Conference at Boston and of the New Hampshire at Haverhill.
Massachusetts, the latter being the one hundredth in the series
of his total episcopal career.

;

— —

•^1

' jfl

B^B> iJSl

B^^^ ^ft^k

i J

From photograph taken by Prince. 1891.
JOHN F. HURST.

Whittier's Manuscript Hymn 309

The General Conference of 1892 called him to Omaha, Ne-
braska, where was held also the meeting of the Bishops a few
days prior to its opening on May 2. He presided at the morn-
ing session on two days, the 16th and 24th. On taking leave
of the Conference, Dr. Albert Carman, of the Canadian
Church, spoke farewell words of great tenderness, which elic-
ited a brief and most fitting response from Bishop Hurst. His
special burden at this session of the lawmaking body of the
denomination was the American University, which received
cordial though guarded commendation in the address of the
Bishops, written this year and read by Bishop Foster, and
also by the formal action of the General Conference. In con-
nection with the immense mass meeting held in its interest on
the second Sunday of May, his intense interest and labors
proved quite exhausting, and in consequence he was confined
at his rooms in the Paxton Hotel for several days, but rallied
sufficiently to meet his duties in the chair. From Omaha he
makes a visit to his son, John La Monte, at Denver, and
then goes to the Colorado Conference at Pueblo, Utah Mission
at Provo, and Wyoming Mission at Rock Springs. This view
of his administration at Pueblo is given by C. A. Brooks :

In the Cabinet he was very indulgent; in fact, I thought too much
so, as he seldom interfered with the decision of the presiding elders.
In his judgments of the men he was kind, but in one or two cases
his indignation was aroused by unwarranted assumption of impor-
tance; but even then he said but little.

At the opening of the session of the Utah Mission he read
Whittier's hymn,

" It may not be our lot to wield
The sickle in the ripened field,"

not from the Hymnal, where it is found. No. 398. but from
the manuscript of the author just received in the mail and sent

310 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

on his own request by the poet, who was then within a few
weeks of his own translation. J. D. Gillilan says of the
session :

The best in the history of the Utah work. Bishop Hurst's presence
was a benediction.

Dr. Daniel L. Rader, who was superintendent of Wyoming
Mission, writes frankly as to his work at Rock Springs:

In the spring of that year (1892) the feeling between the farmers
and the cattlemen reached the climax. From the time the white
men had gotten control of the country, cattlemen had undisputed
sway in allowing their herds to range over the vast stretch of that
territory, but the farmers from Nebraska and Kansas began in the
latter years of the eighties to settle along the water courses, to dig
ditches, and to cultivate the soil. This shut the herds away from the
water and made the ranges unavailable in many cases, but the settlers
did not cease to press in and were very aggressive. In the spring of
1892 a body of Texas rangers, together with a number of the leading
citizens of the state of Wyoming, heavily armed, went into the
northern part of the state, and before the civil authorities could
interfere with them had surrounded the cabins of two young men
who had taken up land along Powder River, killed the men and
burned the cabins; and it was evidently their intention to drive out
of that part of the country all the settlers who were not interested in
the range cattle business. This culmination of trouble brought on
very bitter feelings among the people. The superintendent of the
Mission and nearly all of the Methodist preachers in the state, un-
equivocally, publicly, and constantly denounced such proceedings as
criminal and vicious in the extreme ; but many of the leading mem-
bers of the church were personally interested in the range cattle
business, and themselves and their friends made the situation for
the preachers who denounced them very unpleasant. The difficulty
had now gotten into the courts, the belligerents were many of them
imprisoned, and the war was practically over, but the feeling still
ran very high.

Into this situation Bishop Hurst came, who had known neither
friend nor foe on either side. With great wisdom and tact he
granted the request of the superintendent and relieved him from that
position, taking him back to his Conference in Colorado, and appoint-
ing Rev. Dr. X. A. Chamberlain, of the same Conference, to the

Farsighted Leadership 311

superintendency. This proved a most judicious and happy appoint-
ment. He also changed most of the preachers, relieving those who
were distasteful to the people on account of their adherence to their
principles, and sent in wise men who had not been involved in the
conflicts. The Bishop did some of the best work for the church
in his quiet, wise administration that has ever been performed in
the interests of the cause in that region. One thing that impressed
me at the time was his readiness to hear all sides; and the way he
listened, as though he were all ears and had no powers of speech,
one was led sometimes to wonder if he were listening at all, he was
apparently so passive and inattentive. But he usually revealed the
fact that he had heard and considered every material and important
statement that had been made. His wisdom did not impress me so
much then as it has since the results of his wise statesmanship and
farsighted leadership have in course of time become apparent. T
shall always be grateful for his disinterested brotherliness and his
fidelity to the interests of the church as he saw them from his impartial
standpoint.

}I2 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

LVI
Founder of the American University

Hunting for a Site. — Paying for the Site. — Indorsements by Friends of

Education

Sporadic expressions of desire for the erection and endow-
ment of a post-graduate university at Washington under the
auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church had been made
prior to 1888 by several leaders of thought, prominent among
whom were Bishop Simpson, who at one time thought seriously
of devoting himself specially to this object ; Bishop Ames,
whose residence in Baltimore gave frequent and emphatic
suggestion of the coming need; Dr. (later Bishop) Newman,
whose burdened pastorates in Metropolitan Church showed the
opportunities presented, yet prevented his entrance upon the
larger work ; and Dr. William Arthur, of England, who on a
visit in 1880 outlined to the Harpers the plans for such a
university.

Before Bishop Hurst had settled his family in Washington
there came to him in spoken and written form many messages
unsought by himself of earnest exhortation and of hope that
he would initiate a movement for the realization of the idea.
While the logic of his life pointed him in this direction and
his own mind clearly foresaw the ever-increasing necessity.
yet his hands were full and his brain and heart busy with a
multiplicity of duties quite sufficient for one of his years and
strength. But the vision would not away. The voice of con-
science was echoed in the voices of manv brethren. The noble
woman at his side whispered her willingness to join in the
sacrifice of rest and the few precious hours of leisure still left

Hunting for a Site 313

for completing his literary projects. One test to decide whether
the providential leading was to an immediate effort remained
to be applied. Was there a spot in Washington now procurable
and suited to be the habitat of such an institution? A still
hunt for a site was in order.

The city of Washington with its environs furnishes an
unusual variety of charming drives for the pleasure-seeker,
and fine feasts for the eye and mind, as on horseback or in
carriage one passes through the broad avenues or meanders
over its suburban roads and its numberless slopes and knolls.
But pleasure was not the chief purpose of two gentlemen who.
on Christmas Day, 1889, began a series of rides together; for
they rode with frequent regularity for ten days, and chose
neither pleasant weather nor smooth roads. A far-away look
of serious import was on the face of the leader in the dual
party, while his companion, who held the reins of the high-
mettled steeds, seemed eager to second the success of his
earnest quest.

The first was Bishop Hurst hunting for a site. Under a
sense of duty, and yet with a lurking hope that for the less-
ening of his own burdens he might not succeed, he had enlisted
the help of Mr. Theodore W. Talmadge to take him from point
to point until he could say either " Eureka — I have found it! '
or, " No suitable site can be found." The last afternoon of the
ten davs' round was nearly at an end, when to the vision of
both there came, as they rode along the Loughboro Road,
on the Northwest Heights, a diversified and beautiful piece of
ground. It was known as " Bellevue," ninety acres in extent,
commanding a panoramic view over the District, the Manassas
Plains, and the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western Maryland.
The land was for sale. That far-away look in the Bishop's face
changed to a gaze that roamed first over the fields spreading at
their feet, and then again and again swept the circle to every

>i ; Joitx Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

pi lint of the compass. The tract exceeded in its advantages all
that could be demanded for the site of a university.

The next questions were two: How much money will buy
it ? and. Where shall the money be found? Negotiations for a
price immediately followed. Bishop Hurst left for his Confer-
ences in Georgia and Alabama. These four telegrams tell
the story of his faith in action :

T. W. Talmadge to Bishop Hurst at New Decatur, Alabama, Janu-
ary 23. — Davis tract must be secured now. One thousand for option,
twenty to be paid March first. Price one hundred thousand. Shall
I close bargain ?

Bishop Hurst to T. W. Talmadge : New Decatur, Alabama, Janu-
ary 24. — Close bargain for Davis tract. Advance thousand for option.
I will be responsible. Send papers for signature. Answer.

T. W. Talmadge to Bishop Hurst, January 25. — Davis tract pur-
chased— one hundred thousand dollars. Waggaman advanced thou-
sand. Twenty thousand to pay March first.

J. F. Waggaman to Bishop Hurst, January 25. — Have closed accord-
ing to instructions — Davis tract. Will forward contract.

Dr. Jesse Lyman Hurlbut was at New Decatur to represent
the work of the Sunday School Union and says :

I met Bishop Hurst at the " Tavern." He told me then of his plan
to establish the University, and said that he had received word that
if he wished to make the purchase of the land he must telegraph
early the next morning. He wished advice. I hesitated to advise
him to make the purchase, knowing how great would be the burden
laid upon his shoulders; though I believed heartily in the aim and
plan. We talked together about it until late that night; and the
Bishop came to a conclusion in the matter, resolving to take up the
work.

Now began another hunt — this time for money. A pay-
ment of $19,000, completing the first of five equal annual
installments, was required to be in hand by March 1. On
January 30. having been relieved of the Central Alabama
Conference by Bishop Joyce, he is in Washington again and

Paying for the Site 315

has prepared and signed a heading to a subscription paper
which reads :

Finding a sentiment in the Methodist Episcopal Church favorable
to the location of a National University in the City of Washington,
District of Columbia, I, as resident Bishop, after consultation with
other members of the Episcopacy and with a number of laymen of
known liberality, interested in advanced education, have visited vari-
ous locations, and have received several liberal propositions, with a
view to that object. The " Davis tract," situated on the Loughboro
Road, is found to be adapted for that purpose, and I contemplate
buying it, provided proper assistance and encouragement are furnished.
I should be glad to have the generous cooperation of all persons
interested in the promotion of such an enterprise. Should the land
be obtained, steps will be taken for the construction of buildings
worthy of so great an object.

With cab and street car, and many a block trudged on foot,
and with the Rev. Dr. Charles W. Baldwin as his helper, for
four weeks the Bishop canvassed the city, visiting from house
to store, from store to office, and from office back to house
again, securing pledges and money, and when the day of first
payment arrived he had in his hand $22,000. The final pay-
ment in March, 1895, when he transferred the trust from his
own name to the Trustees, made this magnificent keystone-
shaped site the unincumbered possession of the American
University. Bishop McCabe exclaims :

Think of raising one hundred thousand dollars for a site in
Washington and getting it all paid in before the church fairly realized
that he had bought the land. To me there is a wonderful pathos in the
vision of John F. Hurst, in declining health, with waning physical
vigor, at an age when other men seek repose, passing through the
land from city to city, talking, arguing, pleading with men to help
him make his dream come true, and it will come true !

From his old-time Baptist companion in travel in the Holy

Land, Dr. George D. Boardman. came this word of cheer :

Philadelphia, February 11. — Allow me to congratulate you, and the
great denomination you so worthily represent, on your project. With

»i6 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

joyous memories of Jerusalem, Bethany, Elijah's Cherith, Jericho,
fordan, Moab, Dead Sea, Bethlehem, Abraham's Oak, and Hebron,
I remain, my dear Bishop, always and all-ways, yours.

At the first public meeting in the interest of the University
on March 25 in Metropolitan Church, Bishop Hurst said,
while still under the shadow of Mrs. Hurst's death:

We plant the acorn; God's sunshine and raindrops and infinite
patience, with the sympathy and help of his children, will reveal and
mature the oak.

On this occasion Rev. Dr. Bartlett, of the New York Avenue
Presbyterian Church, said :

There are three things to be considered in connection with this
University: First, Washington is the place; second, this is the time;
third. Bishop Hurst is the man. Tyndall said there were more
scientific people here than in any other city. Washington in itself
is a university, with Washington Monument as a steeple for it already
erected. The whole nation will inhale the perfume or drink the
poison of everything here ; will feel every quintescent drop of moral
power that throbs at the center. Thought now is running wild. In
the great molten mind of the world there is either being cast a demon
or an angel. And [pointing to Bishop Hurst] this is the man to
inaugurate this enterprise.

On May 8, 1892, in his address at the mass meeting in Expo-
sition Hall, Omaha, Bishop Hurst said :

Responses came in from many quarters, expressing the hearty
salutations of the noble representatives of our educational institutions.
One among the first was that of Dr. Warren, of Boston, then another
from the equal Warren of Denver, and then others from Presidents
and members of Faculties, all expressing the wish, " God bless the
noble work.'- Many of the honored men who sit on this platform,
and lead the young men of our church toward the higher planes of
' hristian knowledge, gave early expression to their confidence in the
success of the undertaking. They said, " We cannot see yet how the
money will come, whether or not the sentiment of the church will
rapidly grow ; but our hearts are waiting, and we believe in ultimate
triumph."

Strong Indorsements 317

This was the hearty word of encouragement from Bishop

Warren on April 3 :

I am so glad you took the matter of a Washington University in
hand. Ever since you and I tramped Philadelphia over for Drew I
have expected you would lead some great educational enterprise. No
Methodist should hesitate about putting heart, hand, and purse into
the Washington movement. Go on, my good brother, and may God
give you great success ! With tenderest and holiest sympathy, I am
yours.

At their May meeting in New York his heart was cheered
by the indorsement given by the Board of Bishops as a whole,
and at the public meeting of November 3, 1890, in Metro-
politan Church, during the week of the sessions of the Epis-
copal Board at Washington, Bishop Ninde said :

You are building a glorious pharos that shall be a beacon to all
the truth-seeking souls throughout all the stretch of the coming years.

And Bishop Vincent declared :

We need some central institution toward which the thoughts and
aspirations of professors and students shall habitually turn. These
institutions, so many of them all over the land, must be under some
one great university, and up to this time there has been nothing so
promising for the fulfillment of this end as the proposed institution
in Washington City.

Bishop Newman in his address at Omaha during the Gen-
eral Conference of 1892 said:

Educated carefully at home and abroad, gifted with an imagina-
tion that frescoes the future with the actualities of the present, en-
dowed with the rare power of organization to prepare great plans for
the coming generations — it comes to us more and more that in the
roll of the centuries, in the ordering of time, God Almighty, the God
of our fathers, has selected Bishop Hurst to lay the foundation of the
American University for American Methodism.

On the same occasion President (now Bishop) Bashford
said:

John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

["he site is now worth five times its cost, and will grow in beauty
and value as long as the capital of the nation stands.

When the General Conference had passed the resolution
approving the American University (1892) Bishop Hurst was
heard to say to a friend. " I could kiss the whole Conference."
Bishop Hurst was elected Chancellor of the American Univer-
sity on May 28, 1 891, at the time of its incorporation, and held
this important office until through waning strength he resigned
on December jo. 1902, when he was made Chancellor
Emeritus, and Bishop McCabe was chosen his successor.
Through the first thirteen years of its history he was the
inspiration and guide of the great educational enterprise.
Under his administration and chiefly through his own personal
efforts contributions amounting to $400,000 in cash and $100,-
000 in property were brought into its treasury. These aggre-
gate gifts of a half million dollars he saw so well used and
invested that at the time of his resignation the total assets
of the University were on a conservative estimate not less than
two millions — the site itself having enhanced in value from a
total cost of $125,000 to at least $900,000. The acquisition of
this splendid piece of land without a penny of incumbrance
was an achievement worth the effort of a generation. It was
accomplished in five years and constitutes the chief feature of
his series of successes which have won him the name of
Founder of the American University. The acceptance of his
resignation as Chancellor by the Trustees expresses their sense
his exalted services:

It is no diminution of the honor due to any others to say that
chiefly to your own keen vision both of the need and of the oppor-
tunity, to your courageous faith in God and in the people, and to your
bold venture upon the field of actuality, the church and the country
owe the chartered existence of this corporation and the substantial
foundations already laid for a great Christian University. To your
office as Chancellor and to your present honored title of Chancellor

Founder of the American University 319

Emeritus the whole body of our constituency will spontaneously and
justly add the distinctive and unique name of Founder.

Bishop Fowler said in his address at the memorial service
held at Meadville :

You need not be afraid of the American University not thriving
and prospering. It will grow stronger and richer in this place,
destined to be the literary center, as it is the social center, of the
world, that most beautiful city of the world, the city of Washington.
With the thirty or forty million dollars of government institutions at
hand, all open and easy of access, to be used by the students of this
institution ; with a church that has never known anything impossible
to it back of it ; with the centuries open before it, that University will
grow and unfold, and in the not-far-off future students by the ten
thousands will crowd that way. When we have all of us vanished,
faded out like the mists in the evening azure of the past, John F.
Hurst will sit quietly on the pedestal of that American University
specially honored year by year on Founder's Day, as having given
to the race an institution to illuminate, and to the church an institu-
tion to defend its faith.

Of him Dr. Jesse Bowman Young wrote in the Western
Christian Advocate :

When ten or twenty million dollars shall be secured for the estab-
lishment of the University, when its graduate courses, in connec-
tion with the vast governmental collections and facilities which are
to be found in Washington are available, when its Faculties are
gathered and set to work, and its hundreds of students flock thither
year after year, coming generations will point with grateful appre-
ciation to its massive and noble buildings, its libraries and laboratories,
its lecture rooms and professors, and say : " All this was once a dream !
As a vision it shone before the eye and kindled the imagination and
fired the soul of a wonderful dreamer. He was not disobedient unto
the heavenly vision. He sought, in the face of many delays, diffi-
culties, and disappointments, to enshrine the vision in marble, and
in endowments, and in ample provision for the needs of the land he
loved better than life. When men laughed at the project, when he
was hindered and maligned, when cold shoulders were turned to him,
and when at last his heart was broken with domestic sorrow, he never
for one moment lost sight of the vision. He had faith, and courage,

>2o John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

and foresight, and fortitude. And when under his burdens his
-trench gave way, and his once tireless body sank down exhausted,
>till tlic vision cheered and exalted him. It had come to be the chief
part of his life. And now, behold it in its glory, vast, magnificent,
world-renowned, the source of daily benedictions, and as ceaseless as
the sun in its ministrations — the American University — and thank-
fullv recall the name of its founder, who dreamed it into being —
John Fletcher Hurst!"

Dr. Samuel L. Beiler, of the Boston School of Theology,
who was as Vice-Chancellor from 1892 to 1897 associated
with him most intimately, in the Central Christian Advocate

says :

Bishop Hurst has been called a dreamer. He was more than a
dreamer. It was his to turn dreams into reality. He may not have
risen to first rank in literature as a creator of new systems of truth,
as Calvin or Kant, nor yet to that clothing of ideas in new forms
that give them universality and immortality, as Milton and Shake-
speare. But he was of that larger and possibly more useful class
of authors who have an instinct for the veins where the golden truth
lies buried, and the patience and endurance to dig it out, purge it, mint
it. and send it forth to bless humanity. He had the historical instinct
that recognizes values in deeds and thoughts of men and nations and
churches. It was his to see the turning-point in the tides of life, and
where great opportunities had been seized or lost. He did not dream
dreams so much as live in the world of other men's dreams, and he
had the rare power to lay hold of this ethereal material of which life
is made, and clothe it with form and give some idea of its meaning
and value. He was not a Nebuchadnezzar, but a Daniel.

So Bishop Hurst was not the dreamer in whose brain was born the
Drew Theological Seminary, nor yet the great institution he did so
much to found in Washington. He was the seer who saw the value
of these dreams, and had the courage to rescue the one from financial
ruin, and to undertake to make real the other, born in the brain of
the Father of his Country. London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Athens,
Rome, were as familiar to him as his study. He was wont to say,
" Put a roof over the capital city of any great nation, and you can
cover all the requisites of a complete university."

Washington, the capital of his country, to his vision, was not to be
an exception. He saw that what exists to-day in Washington is only
the germ of what is to be. Amazing changes were taking place under

His Faith and Courage 321

his eyes. Libraries, laboratories, and institutions were springing up
as if by magic. His soul took fire. He saw Washington's dream
fulfilled in the American University, located in sight of the Capitol
dome, amid facilities unsurpassed on earth, crowded with post-grad-
uate students from all lands, led on by specialists in original investiga-
tions that would bless the race.

He believed that Methodism, with its untrammeled and living, con-
sistent faith, its high spiritual life, and ideals born of a gospel experi-
ence and consecrated to noblest service of humanity, was better fitted
to foster such an institution than the politicians of less spiritual aims
and more selfish purposes. He felt that the hour had come when this
dream must be brought down out of the clouds and made a reality
among men. He knew his limitations and understood the gigantic-
task he was assuming. But he dared to begin the foundations, hop-
ing, believing, sure that some day the capstone would be put in place
with shoutings.

Only those who toiled with him in the early years, prayed with
him when the days were dark, stood by him when those who should
have been friends opposed, and lifted when burdens seemed too great
for mortals, can fully appreciate the undying hopefulness, the cour-
ageous persistence, and the sublime confidence of Bishop Hurst in
the ultimate triumph of this greatest and dearest dream of his heart.
With open eyes he walked into his Gethsemane. Many arrows pierced
his soul. His brain reeled and staggered. But he dreamed on, be-
lieved on, to the end. Nor will he die in vain. The blood of martyrs
is the seed of the church. His hopes will yet be realized, and the
American University, beautiful for situation, the joy of Methodism,
will be Bishop Hurst's great memorial.

The future development of higher education in America will
justify this lavish gift of the energy of his latest years, as
Wordsworth has vindicated the large consecration involved in
the creation of King's College Chapel, Cambridge :

" Tax not the royal Saint with vain expense,

With ill-matched aims the Architect who planned —

Albeit laboring for a scanty band

Of white-robed Scholars only — this immense

And glorious work of fine intelligence !

Give all thou canst: high Heaven rejects the lore

Of nicelv calculated less or more."
22

322

JOTIN FLETCHER HURST A BIOGRAPHY

LVII
The Author

Culminating Literary "Work. — At "Washington. — Fourteen Years of

Productiveness

The transfer of his residence to Washington was not accom-
plished without many tokens that his work and life in Buffalo
and vicinity were highly prized by the people of Western New
York. One of these evidences was the earnest and persistent
invitations of the enterprising publisher and bookseller, Henry
H. Otis, to write a series of brief articles suitable for a mar-
riage souvenir. This he promised to do at his first opportune
leisure, a pledge he fulfilled in a few hours that he found
between the adjournment of the General Conference and the
tenth of June, 1888. The little book called The Wedding
Day was published in Buffalo in 1889 and has met with much
favor. The dainty volume of 48 pages in white and gold
besides the Marriage Ritual contains bright and strong essays
on the New Home, the Home Altar, the Home Beautiful,
Good Reading at Home, Forbearance, and Yesterdays of
Home.

Of his Short History of the Church in the United States,
published in 1890, mention has already been made in con-
nection with the other four of the little Chautauqua series.
Parochial Libraries in the Colonial Period (New York, 1890)
was a paper read before the American Society of Church
History in New York, December 30-31, 1889, and treats espe-
cially of the work of Thomas Bray in Maryland. It was printed
also in the papers of the Society.

The fruit of his journey through India in 1884-85 was not

From photograph by G. C. Cox, 1896.

BISHOP HURST.

Indika 323

confined to the religious and ecclesiastical interests of that great
empire, nor to the increased intelligence and missionary zeal
of the church in America, which gave his letters and addresses
a warm welcome. As Germany was pictured in his Life and
Literature in the Fatherland, so his observations and reflections
while in India, combined with his subsequent studies on mate-
rials gathered or discovered on his travels, gave to the world
of letters a stately volume which was christened with a Greek
name, borrowed from Megasthenes : Indika : The Country and
People of India and Ceylon, published in Harper's best style
in 1 89 1. It is a royal octavo of 814 pages, with splendid
maps and illustrations, and has had a steady sale from the day
of its publication. His labors upon this book extended from
1885 to 1 89 1. How he at first intended to make two volumes
— one to be devoted to Western Asia and Europe — may be
seen in this letter to Mrs. Hurst from Stockholm, May 27,
1885:

I find my book, Ecclesiastical Journey in the Elder Lands, is farther
under way than I thought. The volume on India and Ceylon has
20 chapters already, and Europe and the Levant 27.

He completed his first draft of Indika early in 1888 and
then began its careful revision. The revised manuscript was
given to the publishers on July 8, 1889, and the work was in
the hands of the public in the fall of 1891. Bishop Thoburn
says:

He has done the kind of work which was needed, by placing both
the India of the past and of the present vividly before the American
public.

Dr. W. H. Milburn, Chaplain of the United States Senate,
wrote :

My daughter and I have been thoroughly reading Indika from start
to finish, map and all, and a more delightful book we have never got

-$_'4 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

hold of. We heartily thank you for its instructive and fascinating
pages, which have done so much toward helping us to see vividly
that wonderful country, its people, and the mighty changes now going
on there. I wish you could some day do as much for China.

Bishop Goodsell says :

Your hook is the meat of many, hesides being rich in new matter —
I believe it will stand for India where Wells Williams's work stands
for China.

Dr. Asbury Lowrey says :

All through we trace the footprints of the scholar; but the Bishop
displays his erudition here as everywhere with admirable modesty.
There is not a pedantic hair in his head.

Joseph Cook's commendation contains these words :

Bishop Hurst is particularly felicitous in his combination of de-
scriptions of scenery with discussions concerning the history, politics,
social life, industries, races, and religions of the land.

The severe critic on the tripod of the Xation was con-
strained to call it a " very well written book," and "very intelli-
gent observations upon places and people." and says :

Such books as this will be read with pride and profit by all English-
speaking races ; and the author will have earned the respect and
gratitude of all those natives of India who desire the friendship and
sympathy of the civilized natives of the West.

The Critic passes friendly judgment:

How shall we begin to describe or criticise a book that has enthralled
It weighs four pounds and a quarter, though the literary qualities
belie its avoirdupois in the same way that well-mixed and well-baked
poundcake has no suggestion of heaviness. Bishop Hurst is a genial
traveler, a keen yet kindly observer, and tells us of man and beast, of
vegetable and mineral growths, of soldier and civil servant, foreigner
and native, missionary and convert, writing with an enthusiasm which,
though tempered with criticism, still kindles us.

Short History of the Church 325

It was a pleasant reminder of his India trip to furnish the
introduction to Dr. M. V. B. Knox's A Winter in India and
Malaysia among the Methodist Missions (New York, 1891) ;
a delightful task to perform the same service for one of his
former students, Dr. J. W. Etter, in his The Thorn in the
Flesh; or, A Religious Meditation in Affliction (Dayton, Ohio,
1892) ; and also for J. W. Johnston's compilation from the
addresses and sermons of his former instructor at Dickinson,
Dr. O. H. Tiffany, entitled Pulpit and Platform (New York,

1893).

His Short History of the Christian Church appeared in 1893

(Harper's), a fine duodecimo of more than 700 pages. It
was based upon the series of five short histories, but many
additions were made which in brief were: Bibliographies of
the several divisions and chapters with a few footnotes ; larger
and more frequent maps ; to the Modern Church in Europe
a chapter on the Schools of the Church of England, three on
the Scottish Church, five on the Roman Catholic Church, and
one on the Salvation Army ; with an expansion of the Scholars
of the English Church into three chapters, and of the Old
Catholics into two ; and to the Church in the United States, in
the Colonial Period, a chapter each on Religious Literature,
Early Leaders, the Influence of the Puritans, and the Epis-
copal Defection in Connecticut ; and. in the National Period,
one each on the French Infidelity, and Theological Scholar-
ship ; while the chapter on Larger and Earlier Denominations
is expanded into eleven distinct chapters, and the three, on the
Roman Catholic Church, the L'nitarian Church, and the
Universalists, are each enlarged. The index of authors and
general index are full, and an appendix of statistics closes
the work. In the preparation of this volume for the press
he was aided by Rev. John Alfred Faulkner, one of his former
students at Drew and now his successor there in the Chair of

j26 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

History. It has had and still has a wide circulation among
all denominations. Dr. William M. Taylor, of the Broadway
Tabernacle, appreciated it in a letter:

I know something from experience of the kind, and also of the
amount of lahor required for the compilation, verification, and con-
densation of the dates, facts, and statements of a small period of
church history in the small country of Scotland, and when I think of
what must have heen required for what is virtually a universal
church history, extending over nineteen centuries, I am appalled. I
congratulate you that you have done it so well. The style is clear
and elegant ; the arrangement natural, and easily rememberable ; and
the substance is marvelously accurate.

The commendation of it by Zion's Herald, Boston, was :

At once learned and popular, accurate in detail and yet free in the
treatment of the massive material.

The Short History of the Christian Church was translated
into German by Professor Arnold Sulzberger of the Martin
Mission Institute and published at Cincinnati in 1895, with
certain additions made by the translator in adapting it to use
in Germany. It was also translated into Spanish by P. A.
Rodriguez and published by the Methodist Book Concern at
Nashville, Tennessee, in 1900, for use in the missions of the
Southern Church among Spanish-speaking peoples.

In 1892, after repeated solicitation, he consented to serve
as one of the associate editors in the revision of Johnson's
Universal Cyclopaedia, taking charge of the revision and sup-
ply of all articles relating to Methodist biography, history, and
doctrine. It fell to the writer's lot to assist him in this work,
which ran through nearly three years before the ground of
the eight volumes was fully traversed. Probably the most
delicate task of this undertaking was that imposed by the
exigencies of the work in the reduction of Dr. Whedon's
strong article on Arminius and Arminianism. It was now

Literature of Theology 327

his office to prune the periods of a master who had more than
once exercised his powers of criticism with friendly and helpful
severity on the productions of the young pastor at Irvington
and Passaic. For Professor W. W. Martin's Bible Lands he
prepared the preface in 1895.

His Literature of Theology, brought out by the Methodist
Book Concern in 1896, a Classified Bibliography of Theolog-
ical and General Religious Literature, is one of the finest speci-
mens from the press of the church. It is a generous octavo
of "jjt, pages and contains under proper headings about ten
thousand titles. His Bibliotheca Theologica was out of print,
and the accumulations of new literature had been numerous
since it was completed in 1882. The new work, while an out-
growth of the old, is much more complete in point of classifi-
cation and more nearly exhaustive of the issues of the press of
Great Britain, the United States, and Canada. Another dis-
tinct feature, introduced at great cost of labor, is the item of
the price, added in most instances to the title. Professor
George W. Gilmore, of Bangor Theological Seminary, later
of Meadville, Pennsylvania, was his main assistant in the
compilation and classification of the titles and in the prepara-
tion of the index of subjects, which occupies eighty pages of
double columns. The index of authors, prepared by the writer,
covers fifty-seven pages. The book is found in nearly all the
larger libraries of this country, where it usually gives evidence
of frequent use.

Among the trophies of his habitual hunt for literary treas-
ures was a manuscript volume which he discovered in an out-
of-the-way part of a secondhand bookstore in Geneva, Switzer-
land, in the summer of 1890. It proved to be the autograph
Journal of Captain William Pote, Jr., during his Captivity
in the French and Indian War from May, 1745, to August,
1747. Pote's home was in Woodford's, now a part of Fal-

j28 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

mouth, Maine. While engaged as captain of a schooner, the
Montague, in carrying workmen and supplies to Fort Annap-
olis Royal, he was made prisoner by the French and Indians
and taken to Quebec, where he was kept in confinement over
two years. His Journal is a full record of his experiences and
of comments on many of the important events of the war, and
abounds in personalia of those who shared his prison life —
thus contributing richly to the genealogical history of many
Xew England families. This valuable Journal for which Bishop
Hurst wrote a general preface, and which was annotated,
with an historical introduction, by Mr. Victor H. Paltsits, of
the Lenox Library, was published by Dodd, Mead & Co. in
1896, with superb illustrations and a reproduction of the
Morris map in the Lenox Library, in a limited edition of 350
copies on handmade paper and 25 copies on Imperial Japan
paper, from the press of De Vinne. The quaint spelling of the
original is preserved throughout. Its quiet humor and occa-
sional sarcasm brighten the pages of this historic and pathetic
narrative even to the point of fascination. The precious orig-
inal could not, of course, be used for printer's copy, and it
became the occupation of the writer for many hours, taken
during a busy pastorate at Lovejoy Street Church, in Buffalo,
to transcribe it in an imitation, approximately a facsimile,
which was placed in the printer's hand. Mr. Wilberforce
Eames, of the Lenox Library, says :

My first impression of its historic value is strengthened by its new
setting. It is certainly an important addition to our stock of knowl-
edge, and its quaintness of style adds to its interest.

Professor William F. Ganoug, of Canada, contributor to
the Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, writes :

It is a most valuable book, and admirably edited.

History of the Christian Church 329

The Americanist and jocose bookdealer of Nassau Street,
Mr. Charles L. Woodward, says :

If Captain Pote could see it, it would compensate him for the drub-
bing that he received at the hands of the squaws.

" Irenic Movements Since the Reformation " was the theme
of his lecture, one of a series, before the Union Theological
Seminary in New York in 1896, and appears in a volume called
Church Unity published the same year by the Scribners. For
the Brief History of English and American Literature, by
Professor Henry A. Beers (2 vols., 1886, 1887), he prepared
an Introduction and two supplementary chapters on the Reli-
gious and Theological Literature of Great Britain and the
United States, and the work thus enlarged was issued in one
volume by the Methodist Book Concern with a full index of
authors, writings, and periodicals in 1897. It forms a most
useful and suggestive primer or compend.

His History of the Christian Church, in two volumes octavo
of nearly a thousand pages each, was published by the Meth-
odist Book Concern, the first volume in 1897 and the second
in 1900. Upon this work he wrought longer than any other.
He began its writing during his second year at Drew at three
and three quarters minutes after 11 a.m. on January 17, 1873.
Amid all his other labors he kept it as the central object of his
study and literary effort. The briefer histories which had
already come from his pen were rather the epitomizings of
this more extensive treatment than the germs from which it
expanded. The composition grew gradually into shape during
the terms of his professorship at Drew, and more slowly dur-
ing his residence at Des Moines and Buffalo. The earlier
portions of it he began to prepare for the press in 1883. In
these he abandoned the form of lectures which at first he
had thought to use, and adopted the clearly denned treatment

»3<d John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

which marks the entire work. After being well settled in
Washington he organized and superintended a force of helpers
to bring the work to completion. Among these colaborers
should be mentioned, first. Rev. Dr. John Alfred Faulkner,
who furnished many valuable additions and footnotes, and
brought to the author's hand much varied and rich material,
besides important bibliographies interspersed throughout.
Professor Charles R. Gillett, of Union Theological Sem-
inary, did him excellent service in the bibliography of
the latter part of the first volume, and Librarian S. G.
Ayres, of Drew Theological Seminary, assisted in the same
work in the second. Professor Charles W. Rishell, of
Boston School of Theology, aided greatly on the Reformation
in Continental countries and the post-Reformation period in
Germany. Austria, the Low Countries, and Scandinavia. Rev.
C. C. Starbuck, of Andover, was of much assistance on the
post-Reformation period in Southern Europe and on the Greek
Church. Upon all these contributions Bishop Hurst put the
scrutiny of his own eye and the touch of his practiced hand
both in the manuscripts submitted and in the galley and page
proofs which passed under his revision. Much of this later
stage of the work — especially that of passing through the
press — was done while on journeys, and the writer enjoyed
the privilege of reading and revising and mailing and
receiving again the installments of proofs, and, especially in
the later chapters of the second volume, of cutting down
to smaller proportions the large excess of matter above the
limits of a two-volume work. Of Volume I Dr. Samuel
Macauley Jackson, professor of church history. New York
University, says:

It is the fruit of long-continued study and the use of the most
recent literature. The author's standpoint is conservative. But if
lie prefers the old it is not because he is ignorant of the new. Those

Commendations of the Press 331

who may make their acquaintance by means of it with church history
may rely upon it that they will not have to unlearn what they here
acquire.

Of the work as a whole the following expressions of opinion
will show the well-nigh unanimous verdict of the public :

This is a work of high order, not only in scholarship, but in the
spirit of absolute fairness which breathes on every page. — The Critic.

Bishop Hurst has brought to his task not only a thorough under-
standing of his subject, but a true historical spirit. — The Christian
Intelligencer.

Fairness, accuracy, and completeness within the scope planned for
are the ends at which he aims and, to a very successful degree, reaches.
— The Advance.

The work is plainly and even conspicuously that of a scholar, and
one who understands both the need and the method of popularizing
his learning. — The Congregationalism

He excels in brief, summary presentations of special topics which
omit nothing essential from the bony anatomy of the subject, but
clothe it with the flesh and blood of a living interest. — The Inde-
pendent.

Bishop Hurst's work takes high rank in the modern literature of
church history. Dr. Hurst has devoted years to the study of his
subject, and his history shows the result of wide reading, careful
thinking, and painstaking composition. — The Interior.

Bishop Hurst brings to his task a thorough equipment. To accurate
German scholarship he adds a clear, strong, graceful English style.
He treats with philosophical insight the historical preparation of
Christianity, the Apostolic and Patristic ages, the early persecutions
and literary attacks, the Christian apologists, ecclesiastical schisms,
and the development of theological literature. Exceedingly interesting
are the chapters on Early Christian Life and Usages, The Church in
the Catacombs, The Triumph of Christianity and Extinction of Pagan-
ism in the Empire, and the great theological controversies that fol-
lowed.— Methodist Magazine and Review {Toronto).

The value of the text is greatly enhanced by excellent bibliograph-
ical tables and by peculiarly good maps. — The Outlook.

The chapters on Gregory the Great and Hildebrand (Gregory I
and Gregory VII — probably the two greatest men who ever sat in the
papal chair) seem to us to be very well done indeed. The execution
throughout is not unworthy of the theme and the author. He knows

33- John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

what a church history ought to be, and much well-directed labor has
issued in an approximation to his ideal. — The Methodist Review
( Nashville).

His work is that of the true teacher, who directs his pupils to the
mines whence the marble may be quarried. The preacher should
tell the story of the vanished past. He will find for his furnishing
no better work than Bishop Hurst's thesaurus of source-works and
rich pages of historic recital. — Western Christian Advocate.

['lie chastened tone of a broad and pregnant scholarship is upon
(.very page. It is redeemed from the partisan blemishes of an earlier
day — those marks of a callow and immature stage of the historical
science. It is true to the fundamental principles of the divine enter-
prise it sets forth, and with comprehensive sagacity it keenly recog-
nizes the large submission of all other elements in the drama of life
to the religious and ecclesiastical. The wonder remains that one who
sustains the burdens of his office and other burdens voluntarily
assumed in the establishment of a complete educational equipment for
his church, should have found the time to offer these volumes of
consecrated scholarship upon the altar of Christ. They betoken many
years of careful, painstaking research and fruitful meditation. That
encyclopedic knowledge for which the Bishop has become so widely
known is here accompanied by exactness and the habit of a scholar.
— Methodist Review.

Bishop Hurst was one of the foremost in organizing the
American Society of Church History in 1888 and a vigorous
working member of the Council. He served as vice-president
with Philip Schaff as president, and upon the death of the latter
was chosen president in 1892. He filled that office until the
society was merged with the more general American Historical
Association in 1896. During its brief and separate existence
it achieved a fine literary triumph in securing the publication
of a series of thirteen volumes of denominational histories, of
which he was one of seven general editors, the others being-
Philip Schaff, Henry C. Potter, George P. Fisher, E. J. Wolf,
Henry C. Vedder, and Samuel Macauley Jackson. Dr. Jack-
son says :

One meeting of the Council was in his house in Washington (4 Iowa

History of Rationalism Revised 33$

Circle). It was there that the scheme for a series of denominational
histories was first discussed.

In his tribute to Dr. Schaff he said :

Our friend and teacher has with unerring skill taught not only us
of to-day, but our successors forever. As in general literature future
generations will remember Coleridge and Carlyle as first revealing
to the Anglo-Saxon mind the wealth of German literature of the time
of Goethe, Schiller, Herder, Wieland, and the whole Weimar pan-
theon, so will our friend, the youngest of us all in hope and the senior
of us all in charity, be remembered gratefully and affectionately as
the first to bring to the Anglo-Saxon mind the learned theological
treasures of the Fatherland.

Upon the invitation of Mr. Rossiter Johnson, editor-in-chief
of Appleton's series of The World's Great Books, he furnished
the three biographical and critical introductions for the
volume containing Thomas a Kempis's Imitation of Christ,
Rochefoucauld's Maxims, and Pascal's Thoughts (New York,
1899).

The revised edition of his History of Rationalism which
appeared in 1901 was, under his direction, prepared for the
press by the writer, assisted by Professor F. E. Hirsch, of
Charles City, Iowa. In 1901 Revell published in Chicago
Upon the Sun-road : Glints from the Sermons of Bishop John
F. Hurst, edited by Viola Price Franklin, an i8mo of 56 pages,
one of the Quiet Home Series. The selections were made from
a larger collection taken here and there from the published
works of the Bishop and sent to Mrs. Franklin, who with an
appropriate foreword and with good taste chose and classified
under proper headings seventy-four of those best suited for her
purpose.

In 1 90 1 also appeared, from the Western Methodist Book
Concern at Cincinnati, his little book entitled The New Hearth-
stone : A Bridal Greeting. Besides the marriage ritual it con-

.50

34 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

tains seven chapters centering abont The Hearthstone. His
purpose was to embody certain elements of an artistic char-
acter in a work not dissimilar in general to The Wedding
Day, and the publishers succeeded to his entire satisfaction
in the beautiful product of their press.

it was in the early nineties that the Publishing Agents of
the Methodist Episcopal Church at New York invited Bishop
Hurst to assume the responsibility for a new and popular
1 [istory of .Methodism. To their request, after several months
of declinature on the ground of preoccupation with other tasks,
he finally acceded and began in 1893 with his usual vigor to
plan for its execution. He secured as collaborator the services
of Rev. Thomas E. Brigden, of the Wesleyan Church in Eng-
land, on the British Methodism — one whose literary and
antiquarian tastes he had quite freely tested in other days of
personal association. For American Methodism he employed
on different parts Rev. W. A. Dickson, Rev. E. L. Watson,
Rev. Dr. S. Reese Murray, Rev. Page Milburn, Dr. James
R. Joy. and the writer, who also wrote the Foreword in March,
1900; and for the World-Wide Methodism, the Rev. Dr. James
Mudge, Rev. F. G. Porter, and Mr. R. H. Johnston, of the
Library of Congress. The accumulation of material in manu-
script and illustrations continued until 1899, when by arrange-
ment with the publishers he committed the final work of adjust-
ing part to part, and of completing, revising, and preparing
the entire mass for the press, according to the author's plan,
to Dr. Joy, who finished the task in January. 1904. The work
was published in seven finely illustrated octavo volumes, three
each being given to British Methodism (1902) and American
Methodism (1903), and the last one to World-Wide Meth-
odism ( 1904).

Incidental to the progress of this stately work through the
press and helpful to its just fame was the publication, in 1903.

John Wesley the Methodist 335

of the greatly admired volume entitled John Wesley the Meth-
odist, By a Methodist Preacher. Much wonderment as to its
authorship was gratified and satisfied, when, upon an examina-
tion of the three volumes on British Methodism, it was found
to be a judicious selection therefrom of portions, both illustra-
tions and text, bearing directly on the subject. The deft work
of this biographic extract was also done by Dr. Joy, who
supplied the sentences needed here and there as a nexus to form
this spirited and picturesque portraiture of Methodism's illus-
trious founder. John Wesley the Methodist and The History
of Methodism will stand the worthy monument of Bishop
Hurst's latest stage of literary fecundity and useful authorship.

336 Jo u.v Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

LVIII
The Bishop

1892-96. — At Washington. — Twenty-five Conferences in Fourteen States,
West, Central, East, and South. — Funeral of Secretary Gresham

At the twenty-seventh anniversary of the Board of Church

Extension in Philadelphia, on November 4, 1892, Bishop Hurst

was one of the speakers. In an address of much point and

power he said of the two leaders, Drs. Kynett and McCabe :

Some years ago there was out in Iowa a young man nursing a
great idea. He began by extending himself over six feet in the ethe-
real regions. Then he thought of extending the church into all the
country. A few years of service as pastor and presiding elder
expanded the idea. Of course, there was only one place for such
a man, and that was at the center in Philadelphia. Chaplain McCabe
has never found out precisely the society to which he belongs. It
used to be the Church Extension, after that it was the Missionary
Society ; at present it is quite largely the American University. But
he has a great heart and takes in both hemispheres and all the stars.

On January 12, 1893, he opens his mouth in defense of the
American Sabbath in the memorable hearing before the select
Committee of the House of Representatives against open gates
on Sunday at the World's Fair. Dr. J. H. Knowles, of the
American Sabbath Union, says, " Bishop Hurst's address was
most impressive."

In the spring of 1893 he held two Conferences, the South-
west Kansas at Great Bend, and the Northwest Kansas at
Belleville. The spirit of his presidency at the former is well
expressed by Dr. James T. Hanna :

He was kind, gentlemanly, genial, considerate, sympathetic. He
evidently desired to please God in all he did or said, to benefit the
church and help the brethren.

Anonymous Letters 337

Touches of his humor are mingled in a letter to Helen
written from Chicago while in attendance on the Bishops'
meeting at Evanston, on May 3, 1893:

Bishops Foss, Foster, and FitzGerald were on my train when the
Washington and New York train joined ours at Harrisburg. So
we settled all the affairs of the church right away, and all talked all
the time.

On June 25 he delivered a chastely eloquent address on the
late Senator Leland Stanford in the Metropolitan Church.
His Conferences that fall were the Cincinnati at Troy, Ohio,
Erie at DuBois, Pennsylvania, Ohio at Lancaster, Blue Ridge
at Daisy, North Carolina, and the North Carolina at Lexing-
ton. At DuBois some anonymous letters reached him intended
to prevent the probable appointment of a certain minister as
presiding elder and containing statements of his unsoundness
in doctrine and irregularity in conduct. Showing the letters
to the preacher himself, he said, " This is what I always do
with this sort of stuff." He tore the letter into fragments and
cast them into the waste basket. While at home a few days
before his trip to North Carolina his affection for his former
associates and successors flames out on October 9 in a message
to Helen, who was on a visit to Madison :

Give best love to all at dear Drew. No oaks or hearts better
than there.

He preached a notable Thanksgiving sermon on November
30 in Foundry Church in which he dealt in no uncertain terms
with the question of the exclusion of the Chinese. He asks :

In God's even scale of justice which outweighs the other, the China-
man with his tolerance or the American with his exclusiveness?

His spring Conferences in 1894 were the Washington in

that city, the Central Pennsylvania at Harrisburg, and the
23

33^ John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

Wyoming at Scranton, Pennsylvania. At the first named he
said :

These cheerful faces do not indicate that they have seen hard times,
hut later reports will tell. I hope the presiding elders will expunge
all allusions to hard times from their reports.

In the fall four Conferences fell to his lot : Indiana at Bloom-
ington. Southeast Indiana at Shelbyville, Tennessee at Martin,
and Central Tennessee at Dowelltown. W. P. Banks says of
his work at Dowelltown :

Nothing escaped his eagle eye. He required everything, in open
Conference and in Cabinet sessions, to be up to a high standard, and
yet. when a case proved itself worthy, he exhibited the tenderness
of a woman. A brother who made rather loud claims to holiness
was considerably behind with his Conference course of study. The
Bishop asked him some questions about what he knew of these books.
The brother replied evasively, " Bishop, I am wholly the Lord's."
' Well," said the Bishop, " a man can be wholly the Lord's and still
be very ignorant."

He responded cheerfully to a call to speak at the dedication
of the new Hoyt-Bowne dormitory building at Drew on Octo-
ber 23, and gave a charming and inspiring address on " The
Romance of Drew." At the close of the annual meeting of
the American Society of Church History at Washington on
December 28. 1894, he entertained the officers and members
at luncheon at his home, 1701 Massachusetts Avenue. The
spring of 1895 brought him to the Lexington Conference at
Maysville, Kentucky, the Wilmington at Smyrna, and the
Newark at Tottenville. on Staten Island — his second official
visit to each of the two latter. Elam A. White says :

At Maysville a brother had misplaced twenty-five dollars of the
benevolent money and was unable to pay it, and the Bishop asked
that the money be made good. Whereupon a member of the Confer-
ence moved that we take a collection, which was done, covering the
amount.

Funeral of Secretary Gresham 339

Upon the sudden death of Judge Gresham, Secretary of
State, he was requested by President Cleveland, on behalf of
Mrs. Gresham, to conduct the funeral services on May 29,

1895, at the White House. Mr. Cleveland writes:

His ministration on that occasion was noted by us all as being the
most solemn and appropriate. All that I recall of him is of the
most pleasing character.

He became a nonresident member of the Century Association
of New York on June 1, 1895. and remained in actual relation
until 1902. He was also connected with the Authors Club
from about the same time until his decease.

His fall assignments, 1895, were four: Central Swedish at
Chicago (where he used the Swedish language in the opening
service, at the communion, and at the ordination ceremonies)..
Detroit at Ann Arbor, Michigan at Albion, and the North Ohio
at Mount Vernon. The Conferences at Ann Arbor and Albion
in two successive weeks were seasons of intense feeling, the
interests of Albion College being thought by some to be jeop-
ardized by those of the American University, represented by
the Bishop and earnestly advocated by many leading members
of the bodies. The result, however, was a fine illustration of
how one good cause is helped, but not hindered, by another.
He was in Washington again in time to give an address at
the corner-stone laying of the Fifteenth Street Church on
October 8. The Upper Mississippi at Grenada, the Alabama
at Pratt City, the Central Alabama at Marion, and the Phil-
adelphia at that city, claim his attention in the early part of

1896. Of the Bishop at Marion Dr. Henry N. Brown says:

He was the mirror of a great mind, but noted for his simplicity.
He was kind to children and did not fail to ask about them. He was
approachable, and made the most lowly to feel at home in his
presence.

340 Jonx Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

In an opening address at Philadelphia he made feeling ref-
erence to the religious care of that body over his childhood
home. He also expressed the hope and belief that God
would hasten the time of Cuba's freedom — so wonderfully
fulfilled two years later. On March 9 he presided at the
ceremony of ground-breaking for the College of History of the
American University. On June 4 at the corner-stone laying
of First Church at Germantown he made an address which
was very rich in local and historical allusion.

LIX

1896-98.— At Washington.— Twenty-three Conferences in Sixteen States,
, Central, East, South, and West.— Many Addresses.— A Zoological Episode

At the General Conference of 1896, held in Cleveland, Ohio,
he presided on May 8 and the 25th in the afternoon. In the
consecration of Bishop-elect McCabe he joined with Bishops
Bowman and Foster, and Drs. L. D. McCabe and T. C. Iliff,
in the laying on of hands. Upon his return from General
Conference he set earnestly about learning to ride the bicycle,
in which the writer was permitted to act as tutor to his former
teacher. He became a good rider and took frequent spins
about the city and at Marion, where he spent several summers.

Four Conferences in the fall of 1896 call him from home:
The Kentucky at Vanceburg, West Virginia at Moundsville.
Pittsburg at Indiana. Pennsylvania, and the Genesee at Corn-
ing. New York. Joseph Lee says:

He impressed me at Moundsville by his firmness and the kindness
which he showed toward the men who were in hard fields of labor.

He was present and spoke at the reception to Bishop Fowler
in Buffalo on October 2. The session of Genesee at Corning

Honored by Princeton 341

is vividly impressed on the memory of the writer as one of
the most intense in spirit for twenty years. The enthusiastic
subscription for the American University of $3,000 by the
preachers themselves, the sudden death of Rev. Andrew Purdy
on the streets of the city, the funeral service conducted by the
Bishop at the church, and his powerful and evangelistic sermon
on Sunday morning — all united to lift the thought and purpose
of the body to a higher level of spirituality. On Wednesday,
October 21, he presided and made the first address at the
corner-stone laying of the College of History of the American
University. It was a memorable occasion, addresses being
given by Bishop Alphaeus W. Wilson, the Hon. Robert E.
Pattison, Bishop Charles H. Fowler, the Rev. Dr. Charles
H. Payne, the Rev. Dr. James M. Buckley, and Bishop Charles
C. McCabe.

Princeton University in November, 1896, as one of its
honors at its one hundred and fiftieth anniversary, conferred
upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. His eighth official
tour in the South came early in 1897, when he held the Florida
Conference at Tampa, Saint John's River at Tarpon Springs,
Savannah at that city, and South Carolina at Columbia, leaving
Washington on January 12 and arriving at home February 9.
As was his unvarying habit on every return with valise or
trunk, these were immediately unpacked before he ate or slept,
and put in readiness for the next trip. Travel in all its
minutiae had become a second nature to him. The next week
he is in New York, but consents in his absence to let the
writer take his copies of Melanchthon's Bible and Horace, each
containing autograph notes of the " Good Philip," to the
four hundredth anniversary of the reformer's birth at Luther
Memorial Church on the 1 5th of February. He returned from
another trip to New York on the 22d, but left again that night
for Madison to attend the funeral of Dr. George R. Crooks

34- John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

on the following day, where he made a beautiful and appre-
ciative address, from which we take the following warm
flashes :

With the illustrious names of McClintock, Nadal, Kidder, Strong,
Miley, and now the knightly Crooks, this school of theology furnishes
to the world most vivid examples of the nobility of service, the splen-
dor of consecrated genius, the sweet melody of lives attuned to the
harmonies of heaven. . . . His mind was transfigured while gazing
into the perspectives of history.

He preached at Harvard University in March, and at Vassar
College on April 25. Five more Conferences were under his
supervision in the fall : Central German at Columbus, Ohio,
Central Illinois at Canton, Minnesota at Winona, Northern
Minnesota at Fergus Falls, and the Northern German at Ar-
lington, Minnesota. On his coming to the Germans at Colum-
bus, H. A. Schroetter, of Covington, wrriting of him as " our
German Bishop," says:

Of medium stature, well proportioned, with clear eyes, strong yet
pleasing and dignified features, which give proof of his high culture,
he has largely acquired the German good nature, and knows much of
its amiable fellowship.

At this Conference he spoke touchingly in German at the
memorial service for Frederick Cramer, one of his former
pupils in Bremen. F. W. Merrell says:

His advice to the young preachers at Canton as to their investments
was apt. He said: " I would advise you not to build a shed to which
you must go when it rains, but to buy an umbrella that you can take
with you." He then spoke of the embarrassment occasioned to pastors
and to the Cabinet by the endeavor to station pastors who buy farms :
'They want to be sent to the charge just north of it (the farm),
then to the one just south of it, then to the one just east, and then
the one west, and then they are done. They locate."

Of the same session R. B. Williams writes :

A Warm Place in Southern Hearts 343

In Cabinet work I found him one of the most brotherly, sympa-
thetic, lovable men that I have ever known.

Dr. L. L. Hanscom says :

At Winona he was unpretending in life and manner and the em-
bodiment of thoughtfulness, earnestness, and energy.

Bishop Hurst's fine sense and habitual use of courtesy
toward those who came before the Conferences where he was
presiding found effective illustration at the Minnesota Con-
ference in his introduction of Dr. William V. Kelley, editor
of the Methodist Review, in a brief reference to the Doctor's
father, Rev. Benjamin Kelley. Dr. Kelley writes :

As I listened I thought how incredible it would have sounded to
that faithful, modest, unselfish man, if, when he lay dying in Port
Jervis, in October, 1874, some one had told him that, twenty-three
years after he had gone, a bishop of the church would stand in far-off
Minnesota and describe his character and eulogize his life and his
work in the presence of a whole Conference.

At the close of the Bishops' meeting in Baltimore he was
saddened by the news of the sudden decease of Dr. Charles
W. Buoy, of Philadelphia, at whose funeral on November 5
he made the first address — a model tribute to a true knight of
the cross. He served as one of the Joint Committee on Federa-
tion of the two great Methodist bodies on January 7 and 8,
1898, in Washington, and gave a reception to the other mem-
bers on the evening of the 7th in his library. His brotherly
cooperation with the representatives of the Southern Church
in securing their just rights from Congress brought out a
testimony to his large love for the brethren of that great com-
munion in a characteristic letter from Dr. (now Bishop) E. E.
Hoss, who on January 28 wrote :

Be assured that you have made for yourself a warm place in
the Southern Methodist heart. What a blessing it would be if the

$44 Jo,IX Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

best nun of our two churches only knew one another! And what a
blessing if all the malcontents and soreheads could be put into a
capacious growlery, and allowed to fight and snarl to their hearts'
content !

In February he was elected one of the vice-presidents of
the Evangelical Alliance for the United States, an honor
which he appreciated highly, and he gave frequent proofs of
his interest in the noble and beautiful objects which caused
and still glorify its existence. One day about the middle of
February while exercising on Sixteenth Street on his bicycle,
which had come to be almost a rival to his favorite pedes-
trianism, there was suddenly placed before him the alternative
of running against a woman or taking a fall to the pavement.
It was a case of self-preservation versus politeness, and polite-
ness won. He carried a bruised hip for two weeks, and an
operation wTas found necessary before he was well again. The
Delaware Conference at Orange, New Jersey, the New York
at that city, and the East German at Rochester, New York,
were his in the spring of 1898. During this second presidency
over the New York Conference he made a visit to the congre-
gation of Saint Mark's Church (colored). Dr. W. H. Brooks,
its pastor, says :

His address to my people was sparkling, bubbling over with wit
and humor, and full of a deep spirituality, and his sermon was pro-
found and ran like limpid waters from a full fountain.

Mr. John M. Cornell, his host, wrote him after the session:
1 Your presidency has left nothing but pleasant impressions
and happy memories." At Rochester he chose to preach in
English, but conducted the business and the ordination services
and addressed the Sunday school in German. On May 21
he presided in Baltimore at a meeting of the Executive Com-
mittee of the Western Section for the Third Ecumenical
Conference, and in the evening made an address at a meeting

"A Beautiful and Sweet Alliance" 345

held under the auspices of the General Conference of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in the interest of the
American University. On June 1 he spoke on the Leadership
of Christianity in the Higher Education at the Quarter Cen-
tennial of Boston University. Mrs. C. W. Ellis, of Newton-
ville. savs :

This was one of the most scholarly and most charming of his
public addresses. He spoke at the same time with President Eliot,
of Harvard, and other speakers chosen from the best we have here,
and I recall the pride I felt at the time in the speech of the Bishop.

Speaking of the early leaders in education in the church, he
said:

Brave they were, glowing incarnations of the beatitudes of Christ.
. . . Hostility between the church and the university ! Never ! Noth-
ing but an everlasting unity, a beautiful and sweet alliance.

On June 20 he delivered the address at the dedication of the
Slocum Library at Ohio Wesleyan University, his subject
being Libraries in the United States.

With his daughter Helen he made the rounds of the Pacific
Conferences again in the fall of 1898: Nevada Mission at
Carson City, California German at San Francisco, California
at Pacific Grove, Southern California at Santa Barbara, Ari-
zona at Tuqson, New Mexico English Mission at Silver City,
being the one hundred and fiftieth in his episcopal career, and
the New Mexico Spanish Mission at El Paso. Texas. Dr.
H. B. Heacock says his address to the entering class at Pacific
Grove was " instructive, inspiring, and lives in the memory of
many " ; and adds :

The American University had now assumed a certain regnancy
in his thought. The interests of our church in colleges and univer-
sities, according to his theory, demanded a great central post-graduate
institution as its climax and bond of union. The institution at
Washington, so auspiciously begun, loomed before his vision as the

546 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

normal outcome of our educational plans and essential to their full
fruition.

1 )f his interest in zoology in a practical way few are aware,
and the letter of Dr. Frank Baker, Superintendent of the Na-
tional Zoological Park, will be a surprise to many of his
friends :

Washington, D. C, September 22. — I am very greatly obliged to
you for the interest you have taken with regard to procuring speci-
mens for the National Zoological Park. The bear from Marion,
Massachusetts, has arrived, and has proved to be a very fine acquisi-
tion. With regard to the bear at Truckee, California, the expense of
transportation would be so great that it will hardly pay the Park to
negotiate for the animal.

' In our Spanish Mission," says Dr. Thomas Harwood of
the meeting at El Paso, " he was so kind and fatherly that
he endeared himself wonderfully to all our Mexican brethren."
About Thanksgiving time in response to an invitation from the
editor of Harper's Weekly he wrote a vigorous and approving
article on the very live topic of expansion in the Philippines.
It was published simultaneously with another of a different
view by Bishop Henry C. Potter, of Xew York, who after
a trip of observation in the Orient greatly modified the senti-
ments contained in his own article. On December 18 he spoke
at the Decennial of the American Sabbath Union, of which
he was a Manager, held in Calvary Baptist Church. Among
other excellent remarks he said :

The general opinion of thinking men and of the press to-day is
the discriminating and just view that the Sabbath is a great boon from
the Creator to the race made in his image, and should be welcomed
in the spirit of love, obedience, and hope as the bulwark of social
morality and a fountain of blessing to the home and to the state.

Hymns in the White House 347

1898-1901. — At Washington. — President McKinley's Friendship. — Nineteen
Conferences in Eleven States, West, North, South, and East. —

His Second Marriage

Major William McKinley and Bishop Hurst were fast
friends before the choice of the people made the Major the
President. Of this relation as it continued and grew to in-
timacy Colonel Henry O. S. Heistand. who was Mr. McKin-
ley's private secretary when he was Governor of Ohio, says :

Bishop Hurst was one of the warmest personal friends of William
McKinley. No one visited Mr. McKinley who was more cordially
welcomed than Bishop Hurst. The President not only appreciated
the Bishop on account of his high ecclesiastical office, but admired
him for his brilliant attainments, his excellent judgment, and his
wise counsels. He loved him for his charming and sympathetic
nature, and placed high value upon him as a man and friend. The
relations existing between these two great men were those of perfect
confidence. For many years it was Mr. McKinley's custom to have
his intimate friends gather at his home on Sunday evenings and sing
hymns. Mrs. McKinley, being unable to attend church, the President
always, if possible, remained with her in the evening, though attend-
ing church in the morning by himself. At these little informal
Sunday evenings the voices of Mr. and Mrs. McKinley were always
mingled with those of the assembled company, and occasionally Mrs.
McKinley would play an accompaniment. Upon entering the White
House this custom was continued, and Bishop Hurst was so frequently
a member of the party that Mr. McKinley hardly thought the gather-
ing complete until the Bishop had arrived. It was through these
gatherings, where my wife usually played the accompaniment, that I
formed the acquaintance with Bishop Hurst, which grew to a friend-
ship. At one of these evenings of sacred song it was discovered that
the only Methodist hymn book available was the one carried by Mr.
McKinley in his own church devotions, and the President said, " I
must get some more hymn books. Our little Sunday evening devotion
must not suffer for want of books." Whereupon Bishop Hurst said,
" Now, Mr. President, let me provide the hymn books for the White
House"; to which the President agreed. A few days later (on New
Year's Eve, 1898), ten handsome copies of the Methodist Hymnal,

348 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

each volume bearing Bishop Hurst's compliments and his signature,
were received and afterward used on Sunday evening by the " White
House Choir" (as the President called it), until the time of Mr.
McKinley's death.

The Hon. George B. Cortelyou, Postmaster-General, who
was secretary to the President at the time of his tragic death,
says :

I well remember President McKinley's regard for Bishop Hurst,
and the President several times commented to me on the energy and
forcefulness with which the Bishop presented the claims of the
University. Upon the occasion of these calls I saw the Bishop fre-
quently, and always had the pleasantest relations with him. He was
of a peculiarly gentle and winning disposition, but withal a very
vigorous and persevering advocate in any cause in which he was
enlisted.

On one of his calls to see the President, Bishop Hurst noticed
that the usually lustrous eyes seemed a bit dim, and said :

' You seem a little tired." " Yes,'' he replied, " I have not
been quite well for several days." " Is there anything I can
do for you? " asked the Bishop. " Yes, there is," he replied.

1 Keep on praying for me ; that will help me more than any-
thing else."

His Conferences in the spring of 1899 were the Saint Louis
at Union Church in that city, the Missouri at Cameron, and
the Central Missouri at Oskaloosa, Iowa. The session at
Saint Louis was remarkable for the spirit of reunion manifest
between the representatives of the two great branches of
American Methodism. Dr. Frank Lenig writes :

The ordination of elders, held in the Lindell Avenue Church Sun-
day afternoon, was unique, peculiarly impressive, and perhaps the
first of the kind ever held — a kind of a reunion service. At the laying
on of hands Bishop Hurst was assisted inside the altar by Bishop
McCabe. and Bishop E. R. Hendrix, of the Methodist Episcopal
Church. South ; and on the outside by Dr. Young, Dr. Hopkins, of
the Southern Church, and myself.

City or Great Heart "

349

Dr. W. T. Wright says :

His eye and intellect were clear, his administration vigorous. The
Conference was hard to handle, but the Bishop handled it with his
usual skill and, I think, fairness.

In the midsummer heat, on July 20, Bishop Hurst was at
the Fourth International Convention of the Epworth League
at Indianapolis, where he responded in English, in German,
in French, in Italian, and in Spanish, to the address of welcome
in Tomlinson Hall. His official task in the fall of 1899 took
him to six Conferences : Northwest Indiana at Frankfort, Chi-
cago German at Milwaukee, West Wisconsin at Baraboo.
Wisconsin at Waukesha, Rock River at Rockford, Illinois,
and Dakota at Huron. Of the Rock River Dr. H. G. Jackson
says:

The Conference was an exciting one, in some respects. Matters
of critical interest came up for settlement, but Bishop Hurst presided
with such fairness and skill as to satisfy all parties.

W. H. Smith adds :

Clear, calm, judicial, in the midst of the strife and contention,
he was master of the situation, and I believe few could have filled
his trying and difficult position with such satisfaction to so many
intensely interested partisans, or brought out more peaceable results
for the men and the church.

While the Bishops were at their semiannual meeting in
November, 1899, in Philadelphia, Bishops Hurst and Ninde
made responses to the welcome spoken by Dr. John E. James
at the public reception on the evening of the third. " If I
should try to give a name befitting this wonderful city," said
he, " I would call it the city of Great Heart." Continuing
he gave the Methodists of the city a most hearty compliment
for the successful establishment in recent years of their four
great and growing charities, the home for the aged, the hos-
pital, the orphanage, and the deaconess home.

350 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

The dedication of the new administration building at Drew
i .n I December 5 called him to his loved Madison, where he was
the first on the afternoon programme. The body of his address
was a clear and strong expose of the weakness of certain
phases of the destructive higher criticism, and a masterful
argument drawn from history proving that God's Word is like
the great oaks of the campus, growing in strength and beauty,
and entering the thought and life of the world more effectually
through the storms of opposition. On December 18, 19, and
20. at the request of Chaplain Milburn. who was recovering
from illness, he opened the daily sessions of the Senate with
a brief prayer. He spoke most fittingly at the farewell service
at Twelfth Street Church on December 31. prior to its mer-
gence with the Wilson Memorial Church.

At the service in memory of Bishop Newman held at Met-
ropolitan Church on Sunday, February 25. 1900, Bishop Hurst
preached a most appreciative memorial sermon, using for his
text the same passage from which Bishop Newman had
preached in the same place on John Wesley during the Second
Ecumenical Conference: "There was a man sent from God
whose name was John." The next day he addressed the
Preachers' Meeting of New York city on " The American
University."

His Conferences in the spring of 1900 were three: New
Jersey at Millville. Virginia at Alexandria, and New York
East at Danbury, Connecticut. In his address at Millville to
the class for full connection he said :

Let me urge you not to be in a hurry to become great, but rather
to be wise, patient, cautious, and studious, never losing sight of the
fact that you are only instruments in advancing the cause of God,
and that what you accomplish is not so much your work as it is that
of God through you.

At the Ecumenical Missionary Conference held in New York

Trips in Virginia and Canada 351

at Carnegie Hall and many other public places opened for the
throngs in attendance, Bishop Hurst spoke at a meeting in
Broadway Tabernacle on the afternoon of April 23 on the
Philippines as a missionary field. At the General Conference
of 1900 held in Chicago he presided on May 7 in the morning
and the 23d in the afternoon at Studebaker Hall. Together
with Bishops Foss and Thoburn he laid hands on Bishop
Edwin Wallace Parker, and also presented the Scriptures to
him at the Consecration service held on Sunday, May 27.

During the summer of 1900 he made two trips besides his
usual stay, shortened thereby, at Marion. One in July in
company with the writer was by steamer to Old Point Com-
fort; a steamboat ride up the James to Jamestown and the
ruins ; by carriage to Williamsburg, affording two hours with
President Tyler of William and Mary College; to Yorktown
and back to Williamsburg by livery ; by rail back to Old Point ;
a few days later to Richmond and return by rail; and thence
by boat home again. On the second trip in August he was
accompanied by Helen, to the White Mountains, to Quebec,
to Port Hope and Montreal.

At all subsequent Conferences the writer was with him. His
fall series, all in Iowa, were the Saint Louis German in Bur-
lington, Northwest German at Lemars, Northwest Iowa at
Spencer, and Upper Iowa at Osage. His sermon in English
at Burlington was one of great power, many being visibly
affected to tears. On the way between Burlington and Lemars
he stopped three hours at Cedar Rapids, where he made an
inspiring address to the District Conference in session at
Trinity Church. Professor F. E. Hirsch, of Charles City
College, says :

The sermon which he preached in Lemars has ever remained in
my memory. He preached on the words, " There is joy in heaven
over one sinner that repenteth." He said that every great event in

35- John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

history has produced an immortal song; the greatest event of which
( rod can conceive is the conversion of a sinner; and that this is in
itself sufficient to start the full anthem of the heavenly choir.

Bishop Hurst was one of the ninety-seven distinguished men
who served as a board of electors in October, 1900, to deter-
mine the names to be placed in the Hall of Fame for Great
Americans in the New York University. He was also one of
the Committee on the Centennial of Washington as the seat
of the Federal Government held at the White House on
December 12.

In January, 1901, he presided at the Upper Mississippi Con-
ference at Aberdeen, and the Mississippi at Moss Point, at the
former being the guest of Rev. Dr. Richard Wilkinson, and
at the latter of Rev. Dr. H. W. Featherstun, each the pastor
of the Southern Church. At Aberdeen we were entertained
at dinner at the beautiful home of Mr. George Paine, whose
mother, widow of Bishop Paine, added greatly to the charm
of three hours of most delightful hospitality. The Bishop
preached at the Southern Church at Aberdeen to the great
satisfaction of both pastor and people.

What proved to be his last Conference was the Troy, held

at Saratoga, New York, April 10-15, 1901- The correspondent

of The Christian Advocate wrote :

He presided with his usual ease and dignity, and without seeming
haste so dispatched the minute business that it was almost finished
by noon of Saturday.

Edwin Genge, the Secretary, says:

It was evident that he was laboring under some disability. Yet he
bravely carried through the work of the Conference. He was much
interested in some of the brethren who were to be moved, and made
several inquiries concerning them and their work while routine busi-
ness was being transacted. His sermon on Sunday morning was
preached with much vigor. At the ordination service in the afternoon
it was apparent that he had undertaken to do too much for the one day.

Summation of Episcopal Service 353

On his way from the morning service to the Sanitarium
where he was entertained he said to the writer with great
earnestness : " I would like to live twenty years more to preach
the gospel."

After his return from the Bishops' meeting at Portland,
Maine, we went again together to Charlottesville, Virginia,
where he, although in feeble health, fulfilled an engagement
by preaching in the chapel of the University of Virginia both
morning and evening on Sunday, May 12. While there he
greatly enjoyed a call on Saturday evening upon Dr. Wilson
C. N. Randolph, a great-grandson of Thomas Jefferson, and
a drive with Professor F. H. Smith on Monday morning to
Monticello, the home and the tomb of Jefferson. He preached
his last sermon at West Baltimore Station Sunday morning,
June 16, 1 90 1, and spoke briefly, but very earnestly, choice
words of welcome to the class of nearly one hundred proba-
tioners who were received into full connection by the pastor,
Dr. M. F. B. Rice, in the evening. This was his last public
service in America.

A summation of his twenty-one years of episcopal service
shows that he presided at 170 Conferences and Missions,
157 having been held in 45 states of the Union, and 13 in
9 foreign countries, made 18,414 appointments for a year in his
assignment of effective ministers to their work, and ordained
1,041 deacons and 803 elders.

For many years prior to his residence in Buffalo Bishop

Hurst and Mr. Francis H. Root had been warm friends

through a mutual appreciation of qualities of character. In

the tireless application of energy each in his own field and in

the spirit of progress, impatient of delay in any good work,

the two men were alike. When Bishop and Mrs. Hurst with

their three younger children came to reside in Buffalo in 1885

they were for a time, while the newly purchased episcopal
24

354 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

residence was being put in order, the guests of Mr. and Mrs.
Root, and thereafter the two families were on intimate terms.
Bishop Hurst and Miss Ella Agnes (born 1858). the youngest
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Root, became engaged in February,
1892, and the wedding took place in Buffalo on September 5,
three days earlier than had been planned, the change of date
having been made at the earnest request of Mr. Root, then
in his final illness. Mrs. Hurst was cordially welcomed by
all the family at 4 Iowa Circle, Washington, and late in 1893
they removed to 1701 Massachusetts Avenue. Bishop and
Mrs. Hurst traveled in Europe during the summer of 1894.
A son was born to them on December 18. 1894, to whom was
given the name of Spencer Root, in honor of Mrs. Hurst's
father and mother.

In May, 1898, Mrs. Hurst and Spencer went to Europe for
the announced purpose of cultivating her voice. Her stay was
prolonged through the next winter, and she wrote in Febru-
ary, 1899, of her plans to remain another year. To Bishop
Hurst's earnest request that she return with their child she
made no reply. In this crisis his gentleness and considerate-
ness, his affection, his sense of duty and of justice, his clear
vision of the right path for all concerned to pursue, all united
in a final heart message and appeal which as a husband and
father he sent to his wife. She never returned to him. He
grieved deeply over the situation, but never surrendered his
affection for his absent wife, nor the hope for her return. To
the proposition for a formal separation and a relinquishment of
his claim upon the child he never gave any consent. In the
fall of 1899 he removed to 1207 Connecticut Avenue, which
continued to be his home for more than three years under the
care of his daughter Helen.

Vienna, Paris, London 355

LXI
The Bishop-Traveler

Eighth Trip to Europe. — Third Ecumenical Conference. — The Break

Bishop Hurst served as chairman of the Committee of the
Western Section on Programme for the Ecumenical Methodist
Conference which met in London in September, 1901. The
duties of this position involved the holding of several meetings,
and much correspondence on both sides of the Atlantic. A
preliminary meeting of the Committee was held on May 21,
1898, at Baltimore, during the session of the General Confer-
ence of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South ; another at
Washington on March 21, 1900; and several were held at
different places before he started for Europe on his eighth
visit and fifteenth trans-Atlantic trip. During the month of
June he made preparations for his Ecumenical address which
he delivered in London in response to the welcome. His
daughter Helen accompanied him on this journey, sailing
July 3, 1 90 1. They spent most of the summer at Vienna,
visiting his son. Dr. Carl Bailey Hurst, then Consul-General
in that city.

As the time for the opening of the Ecumenical Conference
approached they made a short visit to Paris, in the hope that
he might there have the opportunity of seeing his wife and son,
but in this he was greatly disappointed. On reaching London
they stopped first at the Sackville Hotel, Piccadilly, and later
had rooms at Upper Bedford Place, Russell Square. He
assisted in the administration of the holy communion at the
close of the forenoon session of the opening day of the great
meeting in City Road Chapel, September 4, and in the after-
noon he made the first response to the three addresses of wel-

35t> John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

come. He occupied about twenty minutes in reading in clear
tones what proved to be his last public address. The opening
sentences and a few toward the close indicate the spirit both of
the man and the address :

Mr. Chairman, these words of welcome, an eloquent trinity in
voice, but a beautiful unity in spirit, warm and stir our hearts to a
quicker and stronger stroke. We had supposed that every puff of the
locomotive, that every plash and turn of the steamer's wheels, every
coach and car used on our journey hither, was taking us farther and
farther away from our homes ; but the deep fraternal love that pervades
these cordial greetings puts every pilgrim from across the sea to this
Mecca of modern evangelism at once and wholly at home again. The
speed of travel and the annihilation of distance by easy transporta-
tion are among the greatest of latter-day achievements with steam and
electricity; but these do not equal in luxury and rapidity the real
and enduring transports of the spiritual children of one common
Father, who already find themselves sitting at the family hearthstone,
looking into countenances that at first wore something of a strange
look, but in a trice, through the spirit of prayer and affection, are
transformed into the faces of kindred. . . .

Brethren, one of the happiest effects, and certainly one of the
chief objects of our two preceding Conferences bearing the name of
Ecumenical, has been the enlarging and love-crowned spirit of cath-
olicity which has prevailed throughout the sessions, and left its
sweet fruitage in the personal life and consciousness of each and all
of the delegates. The sentiments thus nourished into new power
by these addresses and by their widespread dissemination through
the press have led the thoughts of the whole church to higher alti-
tudes and stimulated all hearts to a broader, warmer, more generous,
and more comprehensive love for all who bear the name and desire to
welcome and obey the Spirit of Christ. If the Ecumenical quality
of our meeting to-day, as of those of ten and twenty years ago,
should be questioned by any who doubt the propriety of the present
application of the term, or should be challenged by any who eye
with jealous wonder the wide-spreading growth of Methodism, the
best defense of our adoption of this globe-covering word would be
found, not in the statistical tables of our growing communion in all
the habitable parts of the planet, but rather in the catholic spirit of
John Wesley — the most truly catholic man of the eighteenth century
— and in the continuous and unfolding catholicity of the millions who

A Staggering Blow 357

have answered with their faith and love to that apostolic voice, exam-
ple, and evangel.

The correspondent of the Methodist Recorder of Septem-
ber 5 says:

Bishop Hurst is just now reading his address of reply on behalf
of the West. Alas ! he is ten years older than when I last heard him.
He is, I suppose, the most honored representative of the West here
present.

Two days later the news which shocked the world, " Presi-
dent McKinley has been shot," broke upon him, while, with
Admiral Henry Keppell, the veteran naval hero of the Crimea,
he was the guest of the Baroness Burdett-Coutts at Holly
Lodge, Hempstead. It was a staggering blow. His general
health had been declining for several months, and the sad
message of September 14 that his dear friend was dead was
almost immediately followed by an attack of partial apoplexy
on the 1 6th. From this he slowly rallied and was able to be
about in a few days. His last written message to Helen was a
note penned in the hotel, on the day Mr. McKinley died. It
gathers into its simple yet beautiful unity the triple experi-
ences of his heart's affection for the living, sorrow for the dead,
and his perpetual refuge in the house of the Lord :

Dearest Helen j The President is gone ! I will leave this for you
on your arrival. I-ut I will be at the church all the time.

Affectionately, J. F. Hurst.

On September 24 he and Helen took passage for America.
While the ship plows the Atlantic — a familiar road to him
now on his sixteenth crossing — and before father and daugh-
ter again touch foot on their loved and native shore, we have
time to examine a little more closely and fully, on the shining
jewel of his life, some of the facets which do not readily yield
themselves to a setting in the chronologic order of a career
so rich in details of industry and fruitfulness.

John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

LXII
Aside Views and Touches

The Book-Lover and Antiquarian

Henry Ward Beecher said, " There is no pleasure in life
equal to buying a book you cannot afford to buy." Vance
Thompson enlarges on the statement — shall we say confes-
sion?— of the Brooklyn divine:

Hazlitt praised old books; anyone can praise old books. Isaac
Ritson read them; even that is not beyond the reach of the ordinary
intelligence. But buying old books is an art. Dibdin's theory that all
one needed was " civility, quickness, and intelligence " is defective.
The matter is not so simple. One must be wily as a red Indian,
patient as a thief. Any superficial, early-stunted fool may buy a book
for what it is worth. There is no art in that. It needs no nous.
The elaborate joy, the supreme art of book-buying is paying forty
cents for some dusty i2mo worth a Spaniard's ransom.

Bishop Hurst was a Nimrod among book-hunters. How
he loved books and how keen was his scent for rare literary
treasures at the age of twenty-two, is indicated by certain
autobiographic references taken from one of his papers entitled
" About a Book Auction in Germany " :

As to taste I was always fond of everything old; had more liking
for an old wall than a new palace; loved the old, jaundiced rag-
woman better than my neighbor's sweet prattler; preferred a hollow
log for a seat to the richest ottoman; always gave more for the first
than for the last edition of a work, other things being equal; liked
half-effaced pictures better than the glowing colors of new ones; had
a passionate love for old maps and designs, and yet could not boast
the slightest practical acquaintance with art; in fact, I fell in love
with everything that could boast of a coat of the " charming dust."
... I stood one day in a Brunswick street and read a large placard
announcing a great sale of old books, curious coins, pictures, shells,

Rival Recreations 359

manuscripts, and relics. The bill closed with the information of
the place where a complete catalogue could be found giving many
useful facts concerning the articles to be sold. My blood was at once
crazy within me. I rushed over the grandest bridge in Brunswick
without stopping a moment. Two old churches did I pass without
thinking to look up at a single gargoyle. Soon I had the catalogue,
and taking the nearest street to my lodgings I neither ate nor slept
until I had read every word of its precious contents. I closed it with
an agitated frame and lost appetite. Nor did sleep come to my eyelids
that night, and I was blessed with none save short and nervous
snatches for the next three nights and days that intervened before the
antiquarian auction.

His interest in old books was always marked by a vital
link connecting them with the life and thought of the present ;
it grew with his growth and strengthened with his strength;
yet it was ever held in subordination to his dominant passion
for useful work. Book-hunting was his choice recreation,
though a close second was travel on foot. His happiest and
most successful respites were those in which these rivals were
yoked together. A walk that promised punctuation by a peep
at the drawers and corners and upper shelves of some book-
stall had no superior as a spur to his striding pace. A bookshop
three or four miles distant from his lodgings drew him more
strongly than one near at hand — the enchantment lent to it
not being due to mere distance, but rather to the opportunity to
step it off in lively and tonic fashion. His daily and volumi-
nous correspondence, entailing a great variety of cares and
burdens, was lighted up and lightened by the ever-present
bibliographic message. Booksellers wrere by no means the
only ones to whom he wrote, when the emergency did not sug-
gest the telegraph, but soldiers and sailors, consuls and
missionaries, or whoever might be in touch with specimens of
literature, ordinarily inaccessible, in any part of the postal
world, were on his address list. His journeys by car and
steamer and stage were often relieved of monotony by the

360 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

study and butchery of the " cats " which had accumulated on

his desk since his last trip. His favorite method of search

was of the mousing kind, especially where the deposits had

outgrown the primal plan of the shop and found their overflow

into every sort of cranny or angle, or even invaded the most

private precincts of the dealer's sanctum sanctorum. He was

usually present by proxy at the leading book sales in New

York, Boston, and Philadelphia, and was as eager to learn

the results of the bidding and the destination of particular

items as the angler is to know where the shining sides of the

largest trout have been seen, since the wary prize slipped from

his own hook. It would have been a rare day when on the

ocean there was not some message either going or coming

that concerned some treasure on which his mind was set or

the treasure itself moving to its place among the thousands

of his culling. Dr. Samuel Macauley Jackson says : " He was

the bibliophile and book expert embodied." Dr. Samuel A.

Green, of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, writes :

I knew him as an indefatigable collector of rare titles and a genuine
lover of books; and he knew a good thing when he saw it. I shall
always remember him as a man with the true bibliographical instincts.

Mr. Robert E. Cowan, of San Francisco, whose practiced
eye he had enlisted in certain lines of search, wrote him :

Your wants are carefully considered and in mind, but this market, I
fear, does not admit of much in the shape of pleasant surprises either
for the book-buyer or the bookseller. If it should so fortunately
happen I will advise you thereof; for in my estimation you as a book-
hunter are " first in line."

Another dealer who would have been willing to let the
Bishop dispense quite largely with his desire to make a good
bargain, and confine his attention more closely to the size and
value of the game he bagged than to the amount of powder
and shot consumed, says :

Pilling and Indian Books 361

It always seemed to me that the commercial spirit was closely allied
to the book-loving spirit in Bishop Hurst, and therefore my reminis-
cences of him are more vivid along that line than that of a book-
lover !

One of the many lines of his special collections was in the
languages of the American Indians — particularly those of
North America. This brought him into correspondence and
later into personal contact with the eminent Indian bibliog-
rapher, Mr. James Constantine Pilling, who long and success-
fully prosecuted his work at Washington under the auspices
of the Bureau of Ethnology. Mr. Pilling, half in playfulness
but half in earnest, wrote him on December 18, 1888:

You are compelling most of the collectors of this class of literature,
myself among the number, to play second fiddle, at any rate so far as
the missionaries are concerned ; for you seem to have preempted
them all.

In April, 1894, while holding the Wyoming Conference,
after considerable epistolary diplomacy, the Bishop gave Mr.
Pilling the privilege of examining his collection for the pur-
pose of collating titles and editions. He wrote the Bishop on
May 7:

I want to thank you sincerely for your kindness in letting me see
your American linguistics. I envy you your Mexicana.

An instance of his watchfulness for " nuggets " offered in
Europe is indicated by his letter to Dr. Erikson, who had
done some bidding at an auction at Bukowski's Local (Stock-
holm), on October 2, 1886:

Dallas, Texas, November 26. — I am very much obliged to you
for kindly sending me the Bukowski books, and also the Arfvedson,
"De Colonia."

On the 2 1 st of the following March he wrote Dr. Erikson
again in acknowledgment of another " find " which had fol-
lowed him in the mails :

362 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

I am very much obliged to you for having taken care to send me the
copy of Luther's Catechism. I received it safely; it even went down
to Mexico, by which time it had had a good many cuffs and knocks,
but it was not in the least injured.

After the adjournment of the Conference at Winona in
1888, bound for Jamestown, North Dakota, he stopped over
in Saint Paul between trains. Dr. Arthur Edwards desired
to have an interview with him, but did not know where to look
for him. He applied to one of the brethren for directions.
' I think." said this gentleman, " that you will be as likely to
come across the Bishop in some secondhand bookstore as any-
where else." Dr. Edwards made a bee line for a secondhand
book store on Third Street, and there he discovered Bishop
Hurst, absorbed in a search for something rare.

Dr. William H. Meredith, of Boston University, himself
no ordinary connoisseur of literary rarities and especially of
Methodistica, says :

On both sides of the Atlantic, almost invariably, even in out-of-the-
way places, we have been told, on inquiry for such things: "Dr.
Hurst of America," or " Bishop Hurst takes all we can get in that
line." He seemed to be able to go directly to the very spot where
a rare thing was placed, even if the bookseller himself did not know
where to put his hand upon it. At the Ecumenical Conference in
190 1 a little lot of Americana was sent me on approbation. Not
wanting it myself, I took it to the City Road Chapel, and showed it
him. In a moment he separated the chaff from the wheat. He knew
the valuable at a glance. Never have I met his equal in the knowledge
of books.

While he presided at the New York East Conference in
Danbury, Connecticut, in 1900, a gentleman, who had made
considerable effort to get a fine span of horses and carriage,
started to give him a long ride and show him the beauties
of the place. Xo sooner had he become seated in the carriage
than he inquired if there was an antiquarian store in town.
Finding one to his taste, he spent so much of the afternoon

At Santa Barbara Mission 363

there that when he came out it was too late to take the ride.
To his notion it was a good exchange — a ride for a hunt.
Professor Charles W. Rishell. of Boston University, says :

Once in Boston he asked me to go with him to a bookstore in some
out-of-the-way place in a back room upstairs. I never saw him look
so happy as just then. He seemed to know all about the rare editions
of everything on the shelves; and his conversation with the propri-
etor showed that he was acquainted with similar places in all the
principal cities of the United States.

Dr. William V. Kelley, editor of the Methodist Review,
writes :

John F. Hurst was the greatest book-lover and hunter and accumu-
lator of rare, curious, ancient literature ever seen on our Episcopal
Board. Among the objects shown to us in June, 1904, at the old
Mission at Santa Barbara, was a large Choir Book, no years old —
a yard and a half wide, perhaps, as it lay open before us — the musical
notes and the words of the Latin chants hand-printed or painted
large and clear on the smooth, cream-colored sheepskin ; a most
beautiful piece of work, the production of which must have cost years
of labor by the Brothers of the Mission. As we turned its wide,
thick, flexible pages and lingered over them admiringly, our Fran-
ciscan guide said, " A Methodist Bishop came here some years ago
and offered us a thousand dollars for that Choir Book." " What was
the Bishop's name?" I asked. "Hurst," was the monk's reply.

Dr. Jesse L. Hurlbut says :

I was seated at a table with him and a number of ministers, in
Minnesota, I think. One minister said that he had in his library
a book bearing the autograph of Philip Melanchthon. " But," said
he, " it must have been the property of several other persons also,
for I find annotations all through it, in three or four very different
handwritings." The Bishop replied, " That is a sure token that it
belonged to Philip Melanchthon; for he wrote in no less than four
styles of handwriting, all very different from one another."

He often judged and measured men by their books. At the
session of the Newark Conference in 1866 he casually met for

364 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

the first time a young man who was applying to be ordained
local deacon. That young man was reading a book in odd
moments at the house where he was entertained. Twenty-
eight years later Bishop Hurst said to the man, now a leading
light in religious literature, " Do you know what book you
were carrying about with you and reading the first time I ever
saw you? " " No, I do not remember," replied the preacher.
" It was a volume of John Ruskin's Stones of Venice," said
the Bishop, " and I knew then what kind of a young man you
were." In writing on ' The Drift of Great Books " Bishop
Hurst makes disclosure of some of his own richest possessions
and of his experience in acquiring them or of the rarer one of
losing others to rival hunters :

What lover of books does not sigh over the treasures he has lost
by not seizing the golden moment? It is well if you have kept your
counsel during the long process — as long it must have been for a
downright treasure. If your friend, with a similar bibliomania, has
heard you whisper of your passion and especially of a thought as to
the probability of your acquiring a special find, the precious quest
is in danger. Such a thing as his, and not your, getting the prize
has happened even in these honest days. Go to his library on some
rainy day, when he is communicative and the logs burn cheerfully.
If you saunter around his shelves you will probably strike a neigh-
borhood where your host suddenly becomes disconcerted and will say :
" By the way, Jones, here is the book you mentioned to me once.
I thought I would go and see the book, don't you know. Brown was
very good and let me have it. True, he charged me a good price
for it, but, you see, I just had to have it." Of course, on that day
Jones ate neither luncheon nor dinner.

There used to be a time when a great library would even let its
duplicate treasures go into any hand that offered money enough, but
that time is past. I know a fine Gutenberg [his own Catholicon],
which was a duplicate of one in the British Museum and which it
parted with in 1804, but no such happy day ever came again when that
library was willing to part with any valuable duplicate, let alone a
large paper from the first press at Mainz, over which both Lowndes
and Brunet would grow rapturous and spend a whole page in bibli-
ophilic panegyric.

A Hand-Picked Collection 365

On the issuing of standard authors in abridged form, which
he called The Plague of Small Books, he emptied several vials
of his choicest irony:

Think of reducing the Spectator, and Plutarch's Lives, to about
one half their size, yet all bright in gilt, and gay muslin, and tinted
paper ! Since we began this article we came across a publisher's
announcement of an abridged edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson.
O tempora ! One should as soon think of abridging the multiplication
table or Kempis's Imitation. There are some books which ought
never to be abridged. There is no more sense in it than in amputating
a limb to save tailors' bills.

LXIII

The Hurst Collection. — Its Creation. — Its Contents. — Its Dispersal

Through all earth's marts a traveler, his keen eye

And mind, e'er bent to Clio's magic spell.

Alert to see and seize materiel,
In dust or dusky nook a prize would spy.
If yet the gems his love and wish defy.

Their faces in his vivid vision dwell;

Their hiding places fairies to him tell.
And soon or late into his hand they fly.
Strange comrades met on table, desk, and shelf,

Or pressed each other in his crowded crypts;
Yet through them all ran one strong living tie:
His love made each more than its lonely self —

Not battered books and musty manuscripts —
Lo ! breathing, speaking tomes that cannot die.

The extraordinary character of Bishop Hurst's entire collec-
tion lay in its being a hand-picked library, gathered through
forty years and made up of strong and rich pieces, not merely
in one or two favorite lines, but in a score or more distinct
departments. Among its more than fifteen thousand separate
pieces — which for convenience might be divided into Ameri-

c e.p.

366 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

cana (Parts I, II, and III of the Catalogue) and General —
were found under the first head : Indian Languages numbering
five hundred, both South and North American — the Mexicana
being predominant — and including Eliot's Bible, 2d ed., and
the Mohawk Prayer-Book ; New- England Primers, 1 50 copies,
several of the 18th century, and some not noted by Paul
Leicester Ford in his bibliography: 104 Mathers; Sowers;
Ephratas ; 752 Franklin Imprints, including 67 Poor Richard
Almanacs, 432 Pennsylvania Gazettes, 63 Colonial Laws, and
six copies of Cicero's Cato Major; other rare Frankliniana ;
Washingtoniana, including 48 volumes from George Wash-
ington's library at Mount Vernon, and 341 other items from
other members of the Washington family or relating to the
General ; early newspapers ; Confederates ; First Editions ; and
Local Histories galore. The General Collection (Part IV
of the Catalogue) contained twelve editions of ^Esop's Fables,
and eighty-six of a Kempis's Imitation of Christ, in eight lan-
guages; forty-six specimens from the presses of the Aldus
family in Venice, five from the Plantin press of Antwerp, and
thirteen from the Elzevir press at Leyden ; thirty-seven early
and rare Bibles, in eleven languages ; a large, practical outfit
of Bibliography, numbering, with catalogues, about six hun-
dred volumes ; about eighty biographies ; first editions of
Hawthorne, Milton, Byron. Dickens, and others; ten chained
manuscripts of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries : some
choice extra-illustrated books ; many volumes having valuable
historic associations, such as Samuel Johnson's copy of Dry-
den's translation of Virgil, Hawthorne's set of Shakespeare,
books from Dickens's and Kingsley's libraries, Melanchthon's
Bible and copy of Horace, and Southey's Palmerin of England
used in the preparation of his edition of that work; fifty-one
samples of early printing of the sixteenth century : a fine group
of Incunabula, or books printed prior to A. D. 1500, numbering

Contents of Library 367

sixty-six (inclusive of Bibles), among which are found three
copies of Higden's Polycronycon from the press of William
Caxton, the pioneer printer of England, and fine specimens
of Gutenberg and Schoffer of Mainz, Ulric Zel of Cologne.
Anton Koburger of Nuremberg, Ulric Gering of Paris, Anton
Sorg of Augsburg, Kessler and Froben of Basel, Jenson, Pa-
gininus, Wendelin "of Speier," and Arrivabenus of Venice.,
Ketelaer and Leempt of Utrecht, Koblinger of Vicenza, the
" R " printer and Flach of Strassburg, John Faure of Lyons,
Bartolommeo di Libri of Florence and others; three speci-
mens each from the presses of Caxton's successors of a little
later date, Wynkin de Worde and Richard Pynson, and two
from the press of Peter Treveris of Southwark ; seventeen
items of Erasmus, mostly contemporaneous editions of
Froben at Basel (one of Froschover, Zurich, the printer of
the Coverdale Bible of 1550) ; over two hundred books of
fiction, nine of Eugene Field's works, many collected works ;
a few select Americana, such as Sandys's Ovid and the twelfth
part of Hulsius's Voyages (Heinrich Hudson) ; twelve ancient
works on Japan ; sixty-four issues of the earliest Protestant
press, mostly at Wittenberg, written by Luther and Melanch-
thon, with artistic work of Holbein and Cranach ; three illumi-
nated devotional manuscripts on vellum of the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries, ten manuscripts in Samaritan, Arabic, and
Persian characters, a few contemporary Melanchthons, thirty-
five curious and beautiful miniature books, several hundred
periodicals, several hundred pamphlets, about fifty volumes of
poetry, about one hundred volumes of fine bindings, chiefly
literature and poetry; one hundred and fifty books of travel
and guidebooks, forty-seven pieces of Colonial and seventy of
Confederate currency, five hundred and seventy-five engrav-
ings, photographs, portraits, copperplates, and maps ; six hun-
dred and twenty-eight numbered items of theology, embracing

j68 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

a set of Bampton Lectures for nearly a century, about seventy-
five Disciplines of the Methodist Episcopal Church, many
standard works in history, exegesis, and doctrine, a hundred
or more early Methodist publications, including many first edi-
tions of John Wesley's books and eight books by Samuel
Wesley; and last, but by no means least, a superb collection
of autograph signatures, autograph letters, autograph docu-
ments, and autograph manuscripts by celebrated persons of
both hemispheres. Among them were specimens of the hand-
writing of Alexander von Humboldt. Lafayette, John Wesley,
William Wordsworth, Count Zinzendorf, Tischendorf, Van
Oosterzee, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. William Cowper, Thomas
Moore, Sir Walter Scott, Robert Southey, Robert Browning,
Mrs. Browning, Garibaldi, Munkacsy, Thomas Carlyle, Ben-
jamin Franklin, Robert Morris, James Kent, Alexander
Hamilton, Francis Hopkinson, Benjamin Rush, Presidents
Washington, Monroe, Polk, Jackson, Buchanan, Lincoln,
Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, and
McKinley ; Holmes, Longfellow, Whittier, Diaz, Jonathan
Edwards, Increase and Cotton Mather, Daniel Webster, Ste-
phen Girard, Generals Gates, Scott, Wool, Sherman, and
Sheridan; Washington Irving, Mrs. Sigourney, William Gil-
more Simms. Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, William H.
Seward, Jefferson Davis, P. T. Barnum. George Peabody, Dr.
Kane, George Bancroft, Agassiz, Sam Houston, Frances E.
Willard, Gerrit Smith, Eugene Field, Edmund C. Stedman,
Harriet B. Stowe. D. L. Moody, and numerous others.

In accordance with the terms of his will and the rights of his
heirs his library was sold by the Anderson Auction Company,
New York, in four parts, separately catalogued under 4,281
items, the First Part, containing only the Washington and
Franklin books, on May 2 and 3, 1904; the Second Part,
embracing special Americana, such as Writings of the Mathers,

Remarkable Prices for Books 369

New England Primers, and Indian Languages, on November
28 and 29, 1904 ; the Third Part, including General Americana,
on December 12 and 13, 1904; and the Fourth Part, consist-
ing of Theology, books with Historic Associations, Engrav-
ings, early Bibles, Bibliography, extra-illustrated books, In-
cunabula, Manuscripts, and Autographs, on March 20, 21, and
22, 1905, The gross amount realized was $56,500, or about
$15,000 more than the estimated cost of the collection.

A few items of special interest and value from Parts I, II, and
III are here noted : Washington's Official Letters ascommander
in chief with marginal and appended notes in manuscript by
the editor, John Carey, in two volumes, from Washington's
library, brought $2,810; his set of Gibbon's Decline and Fall,
6 volumes, $1,626; his Locke on the Human Understanding,
2 volumes, $650; Poor Richard's Almanac for 1739, consisting
of 12 fragile leaves with edges torn and wholly innocent of
any cover, sold for $565 ; the daily cash book of Washington's
household during his second term as President at Philadel-
phia, kept by Tobias Lear and Bartholomew Dandridge,
reached $525; the Mohawk Prayer Book (Bradford imprint.
New York, 171 5), $1,300; Eliot's Indian Bible (second edi-
tion), $410; the proposed Prayer Book, Philadelphia, 1786.
$190; Hawthorne's Peter Parley's Universal History, first
edition, 2 volumes, $140; New England's First Fruits, London,
1643, $136; and the Pennsylvania Magazine, Philadelphia,

1 775-*776> $2°°-

The sale of Part IV was an extraordinary occasion, prob-
ably never before paralleled in public book sales in America in
the attractive massing of strong pieces. The following account
appeared in the April number of the University Courier:

On Monday afternoon there were two high points of interest

reached. The first was when the Paris Bible of Freyburger, Gering,

and Crantz, 1475 or r4/6. went for $135; the Jenson Bible of Venice,
25

3/0 John Fletcher Hurst — A Biography

1470. $150; the Matthews Bible, London, 1549, $90; and the Coverdale
Bible, 2d edition. Zurich, 1550, $190 — all within a few minutes. The
second was at the close when the ten chained manuscripts to the
music of the rattling links, the rhythmic voice of the auctioneer, and
the lively voices of bidders, were struck off at prices ranging from
$30 to $151.

The evening session of Monday was marked by two waves of lesser
and two of greater excitement, beginning with a moderate one over
books from Dickens's library for $106, the extra-illustrated Life of
Dickens, by Forster, which brought $105, and Johnson's copy of
Dryden's Virgil for $96. Interest jumped to a high pitch when Eng-
lish presses were struck, and the three pieces from Caxton's press ran
up the rapid scale to $1,400, $700, and $675, to be followed immediately
by the three Wynkin de YYordes for $170, $130, and $150, while
the three Pynsons let the interest down to the level again by bringing
$70, $40. and $21, and Treveris made a slight ripple with two items
of $70 and $35. The second moderate height was reached when
Hawthorne's Famous People, first edition, went for $52, Leigh Hunt's
copy of Hazlitt's Characters of Shakespeare for just half that sum,
and the Hulsius (twelfth part) for $37.50. Near the close came the
fine enthusiasm caused by the Incunabula, which was sustained for
a half hour, while these early specimens from the cradle of the art
showed their long-hidden faces, and were struck down in lively fashion,
the chief being Gutenberg's Catholicon of Balbus, Mainz, 1460 (partly
made up with that probably of the "R" Printer), $710; the "R"
Printer's two items for $100 and $105 ; the three from Peter Schoffer's
press, Mainz, 1473, I474- and 1478, bringing respectively $260, $52.50,
and $45 ; and Ulric Zel, Cologne, closing the scene with his four
specimens at $60, $115, $35, and $27.50.

Tuesday's afternoon session was punctuated by several items of
special interest, each succeeding one rising a little higher, and the
last being a brilliant burst of bibliopolic splendor. There was a fine
elevated stretch as the sixty-four beautiful specimens of the Witten-
berg press came out in stately procession and were retired, one by one,
the highest price of the line being reached by Luther's essay on
schools (1530), $47. A few minutes later came three Illuminated
Manuscripts at $25, $40, and $41, a choral book or Antiphonal for
$80, and eleven Oriental manuscripts from $3.50 to $50. Then fifteen
minutes later Melanchthon's Bible and Horace were sold for $75 and
$60, and Milton's Paradise Lost, first edition, was struck off at $75.
After twenty minutes of ordinary items, Southey's copy of Munday's
translation of Palmerin of England lifted all up as it climbed to $315.

A Massing of Manuscripts 371

Then for a half hour there was little to excite, except, perhaps, the
fine Plantin, a Roman Breviary, for $45, and the eight volumes of
Ruskin at $66. The acme of the afternoon came when Nathaniel
Hawthorne's set of Shakespeare (15 volumes, one missing), with his
autograph in each, set all eyes agog, and many mouths open with loud
simultaneous bids which moved swiftly up from $5 to $20, to $30, to
$50, to $60, and then by a leap to $100 a volume, or $1,400 for the
incomplete set.

The evening session of Tuesday capped the climax. It began at
7 :30 and lasted for more than three and a half hours. It was a severe
ordeal for the good-natured Morse, the au

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